


If Love Is What You Need, A Soldier I Will Be

by Wolfs_Got_Jokes



Series: We're going back where we belong [8]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Relationship, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Implied Torture, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-10-29
Packaged: 2017-12-10 11:32:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 38,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfs_Got_Jokes/pseuds/Wolfs_Got_Jokes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny might be able to overlook Jackson not telling him everything, if not for the fact that Jackson sometimes seemed to forget that Danny wasn’t one of his boyfriends. If they were alone he would sometimes lean over like he wanted to kiss him before coming to his senses, and he was always touching Danny in some way or another. It was another thing Jackson refused to talk about. </p>
<p>And Danny, he couldn’t deal at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Remember how I said I would only post this when I was done? I lost patience. But I have time at the moment and already a lot more written, so the wait between chapters shouldn't be too long. 
> 
> I wanted to thank everyone who stuck with this verse even though I barely posted anything these last few months. So, a huge thank you and all my love to autumnesquirrel, astrospace,emrys90, ChelseaJay and ChazF for their interest in this series and their kind words. And of course also to everyone else who commented, left kudos or just enjoyed this in silence, it means the world to me.

Here’s the thing. Danny was not mad at Jackson. He wasn’t. He knew that Jackson was not someone who goes around telling everything to everyone. However he never thought Jackson saw him as just anyone. He had believed Jackson trusted him. He had accepted that his friend refused to tell him what was going on right at the start of the school year. He thought he needed _time_.

But it was January now and there still had been no word from Jackson. Danny wasn’t blind, he knew that he was somehow dating the rest of their little group as well as they were all dating each other but hearing it from Jackson would be nice. Maybe getting an explanation. Because Danny had questions. So many questions. Starting with when Jackson had decided to trust this many people and ending with how this was even working out. _At all_. There was only so much he could guess from watching. It seemed to work though. There were also days when none of them talked to each other and he had Jackson sitting with him at lunch and trying to hide the fact that he was sulking, but most of the time they seemed happy with whatever they had going on.

He just wanted Jackson to tell him. Especially since he couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was more to the whole thing. There were enough days when none of them showed up to school and often Stiles or Allison showed up with minor injuries or bruises which had their teachers asking questions constantly. They had been sent to speak to Mrs. Morrell by their English teacher once, but nothing more had happened. Nevertheless, there was something happening and it drove Danny mad that he had no clue what it was.

He felt left out and he was disappointed that his best friend didn’t trust him enough to tell him. He got used to it though. Had pushed away those feelings for long enough that they didn’t bother him too much anymore.

After all, Jackson was happy. He was still not used to seeing him smile so much, but he was glad that it was happening anyway. That didn’t mean that he’d ever get over the weirdness of watching Jackson kissing Stiles or Scott and smiling at them. He had seen Jackson tease them since kindergarten.

Danny could deal with this. Mostly because despite the not telling about his relationship Jackson still treated him like his best friend. He made time for Danny and always listened if he had any problems. Jackson even talked about his parents to him now, which was definitely new. Just never about his relationship. Whenever he mentioned any of the others, which he did a lot, he never said anything about dates or anything else that would indicate that they were more than friends. Which made no sense because by now the whole school knew that there was something going on.

Some of the rumours Danny heard were hilarious. Most people assumed that they were just fucking. Most guys on the lacrosse team thought that Erica, Allison and Lydia were just in need of so many boys to please their needs. Apparently the decided to ignore the fact that they were most definitely also attracted to each other, just like the boys were. Most of the girls were quite mean when talking about the girls. Danny assumed they were just jealous. After all, they had somehow managed to have some of the most attractive males in the school wrapped around their little finger. Danny thought it was all rather hilarious. How so few of them saw that they were head over heels for each other he had no idea. They probably couldn’t even imagine it, but it was so obvious.

It certainly wasn’t just Jackson. He had never seen Lydia this open. She didn’t try to hide her intelligence anymore, had stopped playing dumb completely. Like Jackson, she seemed to finally feel comfortable with showing a little more of herself than before. She wasn’t as affectionate as some of the other’s were with each other in public, but it was obvious that she cared a lot about all of them. Stiles and Scott were so obviously in love with everyone else it wasn’t even a question. Danny had seen the look that Stiles had reserved for Lydia since third grade directed at all of them and Scott looked at them exactly like he did at Allison. He didn’t know Erica, Isaac or Boyd well enough to really judge their feelings, but they were a lot more relaxed around their lovers, that much was obvious. The same goes for Allison, Danny wasn’t exactly close to her and never had been but she was smiling so much nowadays that he sometimes wondered if her face was stuck like that.

The people from school weren’t the only ones who had trouble with all this. Danny might be able to overlook Jackson not telling him everything, if not for the fact that Jackson sometimes seemed to forget that Danny wasn’t one of his boyfriends. If they were alone he would sometimes lean over like he wanted to kiss him before coming to his senses, and he was always touching Danny in some way or another. It was another thing Jackson refused to talk about.

And Danny, he couldn’t deal at all. Not falling for Jackson had always been easy, because it always seemed impossible that Jackson would ever feel the same. He wasn’t gay and Danny wasn’t one to get himself into hopeless pining after someone he could never have. Obviously Jackson’s sexual orientation had changed a little. However even with that Danny could deal. He also wasn’t someone to fall for someone who was hopelessly in love with someone else. And Jackson had so many someone elses that it seemed pointless to fall for him. If there wasn’t the touching and the looks. If he let himself think about it for too long, which usually only happened when he was drunk, he couldn’t fight off the hope, the little deceiving voice in his head that told him, that maybe Jackson felt the same.

Which of course was complete non-sense. Jackson had _eight, eight_ people he was happy with. What would he need Danny for? As a friend but never anything more. He should have moved on, but whenever he had himself convinced, Jackson would get a little too close or would start a sentence only to cut himself off in the last second and the god-awful hope would appear again. It was driving him mad.

He had tried everything to distract himself. He had a few hook-ups and even a few guys that he might have considered getting together with before, but he was never completely focused on them. No matter how charming, hot, nice or loveable a guy was, at some point his thoughts always drifted back to Jackson. It was the most frustrating situation he had ever been in. So he was glad for the break over Christmas.  He really needed some time to sort out his feelings. He came to the conclusion to just try harder, to ignore his feelings. There seemed no other way, if he didn’t want to lose his best friend. And that just wasn’t an option.

So honestly? Danny really wasn’t looking forward to school starting again, but there was no way around it. At least he wouldn’t have to suffer this hell of daily sexual frustration that much longer. Just until graduation. But until then, he had to be strong and just deal with it.

Which turned out harder than expected when the first person that came walking up to him in the morning before class was Jackson. Handsome as ever, his arm around Allison’s waist and a smug grin on his face.  Danny fought the urge to flee and schooled his face into an expression of indifference. Jackson leaned down to give Allison a quick kiss and she walked away, while Jackson leaned against the locker beside Danny’s, “Morning, Danny. How were your holidays?” he asked, smiling at Danny like he was actually glad to see him. Which shouldn’t have made Danny’s heart skip a beat.

“Fine, you know how Christmas holidays are. The usual, family, presents too much food and then partying to forget it all on New Year’s Eve,” Danny shrugged, “Yours?”

“Pretty much the same. But Christmas with my parents,” he looked unsure for a second but then continued, “it was nice. Really.”

Danny felt real happiness creeping up on him. It was another thing he’s immensely glad about, Jackson trying to get closer to his parents. Especially when he’s talking to Danny about it.

“Good,” he told him, “I’m happy for you. Any other news?”

 

“Nope, everything’s the same for me. How about you?”

 

“I’m not sure, yet. I met someone and we went out a few times, but it’s too early to say if anything will come out of it,” he tried to not look for a reaction in Jackson that he knew wouldn’t come, “He’s a freshman at Beacon Hills Community College. We started talking about classes, he seems interested.”

 

“Yeah? I certainly hope he’s not a douche bag like your last few boyfriends,” they started walking to class, Jackson easily putting an arm around Danny’s shoulder, “because I didn’t like any of them.” And that might be another reason why Danny didn’t manage to keep a boyfriend during the last few months. He’d introduce them to Jackson, who would decide that he didn’t like them, would act like an asshole all evening and not even one day later they’d find an excuse why they shouldn’t continue seeing each other. Danny wasn’t stupid by a long shot and if he would let himself get his hopes up he’d assume that Jackson was scaring off his boyfriends because he was jealous, but obviously that was ridiculous. Jackson was just protective of him, nothing more.

 

The rest of their conversation was easier, Danny forcing himself to relax. They talked about what they had done the rest of the holiday, about school and plans for college. It felt good, like always, having his best friend with him.

 

They sat down beside each other, Jackson smiling at Isaac and Stiles, who were sitting a few tables over, but apart from that he was completely focused on Danny. Which shouldn’t make him feel so proud. Jackson was his best friend, getting his undivided attention shouldn’t even be a big deal. It was just that lately Jackson was always busy. He always made time for Danny, but just calling him when he was bored was out of order. It took no genius to know, who exactly he was spending his time with.

 

The odd thing was that Danny wasn’t jealous, not really. Of course he wasn’t thrilled that Jackson found less time for him than before, but whenever he saw him showing affection to one of his girlfriends or boyfriends (it will never not sound weird, Danny has accepted this fact) he just feels proud that his best friend somehow managed to find people that he genuinely cared about and who seemed to have the same feelings for him. It was all rather confusing if he was being honest with himself.

 

But not any longer, Danny has decided. His feelings need to go away. As soon as possible. Everything would be different now, no more pining after his best friend, it was just pathetic.

 

The lesson started and Danny was distracted from his resolution by their teacher trying to get the class to listen to him.

 

‘It will be alright’, he thought to himself, ‘I can do this. No big deal.’

*

 

Oh how wrong he had been.  Somehow the whole situation only got worse.  Before lacrosse practice in the locker room Jackson decided to seek out Danny’s company rather than staying with Isaac or Scott or one of the other guys Jackson was practically glued to most of the time. It was probably not a conscious decision from Jackson’s side but it still drove Danny mad.

 

Having a shirtless Jackson close enough that he’d only have to reach out in order to touch his very inviting looking chest was distracting to say the least.  And while Danny was busy trying not to stare too obviously Jackson just kept complaining about one of his teachers, like there was nothing more important in the world.

 

“Danny! Hey, are you even listening to me?” Jackson’s voice tore him out of his thoughts that were going in a very wrong direction anyway.

“Huh, what,” he forced himself to look anywhere but at his best friend, hoping that he hadn’t realised the reason for his distraction, “Yeah, of course, you’re right, that guy’s an asshole. Sorry, I was just...,” he had no idea how to even finish that sentence, so he just shrugged.

When he finally dared to take a look at Jackson’s face, he was grinning at him, looking smug as hell. Fuck! Of course he noticed, Jackson knew a little too well that he was attractive, “Sure thing Danny. We all have our bad days, see you outside. “

He walked away, but not without letting his hand rest on Danny’s shoulder for a little longer than strictly necessary.

As soon as Jackson was out of sight he leaned against his locker letting out a frustrated sigh while closing his eyes for a second to regain his composure.  His heart was beating like he just ran a marathon.

When he opened his eyes again, he found Stiles, Scott, Isaac and Boyd staring at him. Shit!

Scott and Isaac were grinning at him, Stiles looked contemplative and Boyd at least didn’t look like he was angry. For a second Danny just looked at them, but without any idea what he could possibly say right now, he soon made his way outside. Fleeing from the curious glances his team mates directed at him. This was so not his day. 

*

The next week really didn’t get any better. Jackson was somehow always around him and Danny had no idea why. Didn’t he have enough people who wanted his attention? Danny was most certainly glad, if he could get away from him. Except for the part where that was a total lie. He enjoyed Jackson’s company immensely; the problem was the confusion and feel of betrayal towards his own feelings every time Jackson left.

He guessed that he was hiding it pretty well from everyone who didn’t know him too well, but Jackson most definitely knew. Lydia as well, he guessed if the way she kept smirking at him was any indication. And well, if Lydia knew the rest probably knew too, although it was hard to tell with some of them.

Scott, Stiles and Allison didn’t even try very hard, though. They talked to Danny a lot more than usually, not so casually letting little hints or just Jackson’s name drop into the conversation. He should feel uncomfortable. After all, they should feel like he was trying to steal their boyfriend, but none of them acted like they felt threatened. The actually seemed to have fun with all of this.

Probably because his crush was absolutely hopeless and they knew that well enough. They were probably laughing about how pathetic he was.

Although he had some troubles imagining it. Scott and Allison were probably the sweetest people he knew, he couldn’t really imagine them being cruel on purpose. And well Stiles and Lydia might be a little cruel from time to time, but even for them it seemed strange.

It was just another thing that was driving him mad. As if Jackson didn’t do fine with doing that on his own. He frequently starred in Danny’s dreams now, and not just the sexual ones, he could handle just being attracted to him, but no, he also dreamt really cute stuff, that clearly indicated that there were feelings involved in all of this.

Danny was so screwed. He was back in school for a week and already close to losing his mind. Things really weren’t looking up for him.  Right now he was really looking forward to graduating as soon as possible.

*


	2. Chapter 2

Jackson wasn’t in the mood for a pack meeting. They didn’t even have pack meetings anymore; they spent so much time around each other as is was that there was really no need to call in one.

Yet, Derek had called him this afternoon telling him to be there at seven. Apparently they had something to discuss. He had tried calling some of the others asking if they needed a ride, but they had all declined, which was weird.

He wasn’t in the mood for any kind of serious discussion or another threat because if he was completely honest with himself he had to admit that there was enough shit going on as it was.

Namely him realising that he was hopelessly falling for Danny. He had absolutely no idea when that had happened. Sure he had always loved the guy, in a platonic way; they had been best friends since kindergarten after all. But all of the sudden he was nearly all the time resisting the urge to lean forward and kiss him or to just touch him in any way. It was torture, especially since he could hear Danny’s heartbeat speeding up and the scent of arousal coming from him in most of these situations. Not that it meant anything from Danny. He might be attracted to him, why the hell not Jackson was attractive, he knew that, but it was not like Danny had feelings for him. It sucked, a lot.

This alone, realising you’re falling for your best friend, and that it will never ever happen, would be worse enough in itself, but this was his life, so of course there was more. He felt so extremely guilty towards his pack for wanting even more although they gave him everything he could wish for. They loved him, although he had made mistakes that were nearly impossible to forgive. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that they were way too good for him and he constantly wondered when they would realise it, too. So far it hadn’t happened.

And he had let himself relax, loved it when Scott, Isaac or Allison smiled at him like he was the best thing that had ever happened to them, or the way Erica and Boyd would tease him, never afraid of hurting him, because they knew he was better than that. He and Derek might have had some issues at first, but the way the alpha offered reassuring touches so easily now, like Jackson actually deserved them, was enough to know that he was loved, was a part of the pack. And Stiles, who would stupidly jump in front of any threat to save Jackson, like he was worth being saved. (It wasn’t necessary and more nerve-wracking than anything, but still) It all made him feel loved, appreciated, like he belonged. And of course there was Lydia. He had loved her for so long he couldn’t even imagine his life without her. She had saved his life, after he had hurt her on purpose, she had stayed with him after he turned and was so lost in guilt and self-loathing. He wasn’t enough of a fool to deny that she had saved his life more than once, and he would do everything to make sure that she was always happy. That no one ever hurt her.

All of them, together, had made him believe, slowly, that he deserved their love. They saw something in him that he couldn’t and it made him hopeful that he’d be able to see it for himself one day. It had been enough.

Now though, now he felt like he had used their trust, was going to disappoint them all. And it hurt more than it should. He loved them, too. Never wanted to see them get hurt, especially not when it’s his own fault.

It wasn’t like he’d ever act on his feelings for Danny. Partly because he loved Danny way too much to ever risk their friendship and partly because he could never ever hurt his pack. But it hurt, god did it hurt. It felt like he was torn apart, wanting too much at once and being painfully aware that he deserved none of it at the same time.

So no, Jackson wasn’t really eager to hear what else was going on now. It probably wasn’t good.

When he arrived at the house he soon realised that everyone else was already there, gathered in the living room. He greeted them all, before taking the only free spot on the couch between Boyd and Derek.

“So, can we make this quick? I really have some stuff I need to work on.” No one said a word; they were all watching him though. Jackson felt uncomfortable, “What? What is it now?”

They kept silent, all of them looking at the others expecting to start talking. Then Lydia got up, “Fine, if I have to,” she kneeled down in front of him, “First of all, please just hear us out okay? We need to talk about Danny.”

Jackson felt his stomach drop and the only reason why he didn’t run away as soon as possible, was because Derek and Boyd were holding him down with enough force that even he couldn’t fight it. Bastards! They had totally set him up.  

Lydia just rolled his eyes at him,” Really Jackson? You think running away will solve this? Did you really think we wouldn’t notice that you’re falling in love with him?”

“I...,” he stopped struggling against Boyd and Derek holding him down, but didn’t relax at all, “I swear I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m so sorry, I would never...,” cheat on you, hurt you, do this to either of you. He couldn’t force the words out, aware of how pathetic they sounded.

“Relax, Jackson,” Boyd told him in a calm soothing voice, his fingers wrapped around Jackson’s wrist stroking him lightly.

He forced himself to take a deep breath, determined to not embarrass himself any further. He tried to sound calm when he spoke next, but with the way his heart was beating way too fast he was sure that no one in the room was fooled by it, “I really didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m sorry. It doesn’t mean anything. I would never, never ever act on it. I promise.”

“We know this Jackson,” Scott spoke up for the first time, “We’re not here to make you feel guilty. We’re just tired of seeing you hurt like that.”

“It’s nothing, it will go away eventually.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Stiles exclaimed all of the sudden, “Can you stop that please, you’re not crushing on the guy Jackson, you’re on the best way of falling for him. We’re not accusing you of anything here, we just wanted to talk about it. Because even if you probably won’t believe it, we think that Danny might actually feel the same for you.”

“What? Why should he do that? Danny doesn’t like me like that. I mean of course I know that he’s attracted to me, in a way, but there’s nothing more. He even told me he’s seeing someone.”

“Yeah well, distractions are always good when you feel like you’re hopelessly in love. Also speaking of boyfriends, how many of his did you chase away during the last months?”

Okay, point for Lydia.

“I didn’t like them. They weren’t good enough.  That’s not the point though.”

“No, the point is that we’re not blind and all of us came to the same conclusion, separately. You want Danny and Danny wants you, it’s painful to watch really,” Erica looked at him with an expression on her face that left no room for discussion.

“Even if it were like that..,” he stopped for a second and thought about what would be then and what the others seemed to be implying.

Okay, now he was definitely panicking, “Are you...are you telling me I should date Danny?” Yeah, and his voice was totally shacking, just great.  They couldn’t be serious.

“Yes Jackson, that’s what we’re trying to accomplish here, obviously,” Lydia stated dryly.

He swallowed heavily, “You...you want to break up with me?” And now he really wanted to run away, but once again Boyd and Derek kept him where he was.

“Listen to what Lydia has to say,” Derek spoke for the first time, but he didn’t sound angry.

“I knew you’d take this the wrong way. Jackson, look me in the eye okay, listen to my heartbeat. We would never ever break up with you. We love you and have no reason to do that. Okay?” she looked at him like she expected an answer.

“I...yeah okay, okay, but I don’t understand, any of this,” He was a little overwhelmed by relief and confusion at the same time. It was a little hard to focus on answering her.

“We love you, that’s the thing. We all do and as a result we want you happy. You aren’t, you have a chance at being happier if you’re with Danny, too. So, nothing changes about us, the pack. Just that you will also be dating Danny. If you want to do that of course, and if he wants it, but I think that won’t be an issue. You can date him and we keep absolutely out of it, as long as you’re being honest about what you feel for him. We discussed this and we figured it’s the best solution for everyone.”

“So you’re basically giving me permission to date Danny?” he asked again, because well it was at least a little bit weird.

“Date, fuck, let yourself be fucked, whatever you want. As long as you’re not keeping secrets from us,” Erica didn’t look too happy about the arrangement she’s just proposed but Jackson had other things on his mind at the moment.

“Just like that? I mean shouldn’t you be, I don’t know jealous or something?” He didn’t mention the fact that it was making him nervous that they weren’t. He was pretty sure that if any of the other’s were in a similar situation he’d freak out about losing them. Maybe they didn’t care that much.

“With anyone else? Yeah, definitely. But it’s Danny, we know Danny, he’s a good guy and to be honest watching you two pine over each other is exhausting.  Of course we’re jealous, you think we made this decision lightly? We argued a lot over this, but it’s for the best. This way we get to keep you, even if you’re with him. It’s the only way to get out of this without anyone being hurt worse,” Stiles said and he looked like he believed in what he was saying.

Scott, who was sitting beside Scott nodded furiously, “Stiles is right. We thought about this and well,” he smiled sheepishly, “I know, I wouldn’t want to be without my best friend.”

Stiles just looked at him, “Man, that was cheesy,” then he gave in and leaned over to kiss Scott slowly.

Jackson looked at the rest of them. Boyd beside him looked like he wasn’t bothered at all by any of this, Lydia had the determined expression on her face that told him that there was nothing he could do to change her mind, Erica looked angry and maybe a little insecure, Allison was busy watching Scott and Stiles, like they were the most adorable thing she had ever seen. Derek didn’t look to happy about any of this, but when Jackson caught his eye he leaned closer and wrapped his arm around Jackson’s shoulder. He let himself lean into his alpha, still a little confused about what had just happened.

Then he looked at Isaac, who looked miserable.

“Isaac? Are you okay?” Jackson asked and Isaac looked up at him from his place on the floor in front of Erica and Allison.

“Yes, yeah of course, I mean...I’m okay with the whole Danny thing, but you really thought we would break up with you just like that?”

Oh, that was the issue. Jackson sighed and held out his hand, “Come here, okay?”

Isaac hesitated for a second before getting up. Lydia did the same, making room for Isaac, and let herself fall on Erica and Allison’s laps.

As soon as Isaac was close enough Jackson took his hand and pulled him into his lap, so that he was facing the younger boy.

“I freaked out. I’m sorry. You should know I’m an idiot by now.”

The comment made Isaac smile a little, “That I do know believe me, but I love you anyway and I thought you knew that by now.”

“I do know, believe me, it’s just that sometimes I forget why you would want me. Especially if I do something stupid like falling for my best friend, when I already have all of you; and then you’re all being really supportive and understanding instead of angry. It’s a little overwhelming, you know?”

Isaac gave him a real smile this time, “Alright, just don’t forget it again. You’re stuck with us, whether you want to be or not.”

“I want to, more than anything else, that you can be sure of,” he wrapped his arms around Isaac’s waist and pulled him even closer, until Isaac could rest his head against Jackson’s chest.

They all stayed silent for a while, everyone lost in their own thoughts, just enjoying being close to each other.

When Jackson spoke again, he had already made a decision, “I won’t do it. I really appreciate what you’re all trying to do here and I want nothing more than to be with Danny, but it’s not worth the risk. Being with him would put him in too much danger. I can’t tell him about all of this and I can’t be with him and lie at the same time.”

The others looked like they wanted to protest, but Jackson wasn’t finished yet, “It’s not just that though. I’m being selfish I’m aware of that, but Danny is my only person that still sees me as just Jackson. I made so many mistakes these past few years and I hurt so many people and it’s nice to have someone, who doesn’t see me like that, who still thinks the worst about me is my arrogance and my bad moods. I can’t let go of that. Don’t get me wrong here, I wouldn’t switch my life with the pack for anything, but sometimes I like to feel like I’m just a normal kid again.”

He was shaking again, getting tired of all these confessions. Isaac pressed himself even closer to him.

Lydia looked like she really, really wanted to say something, but in the end she settled for just telling him, “It’s your decision, we can’t take that from you. You’re free to change your mind whenever you want though.”

The rest all showed various signs of agreement.  There had been more silence after that. Scott and Stiles were cuddled together, as well as Lydia, Erica and Allison. Jackson had enjoyed the feeling of Derek and Boyd at his side, as close to him as possible and Isaac on top of him.

He thought about them all, how much they meant to him and how grateful he that they had let him into their hearts; and he thought about Danny, about what could be and what might happen. He wanted him and if Danny really wanted him back it could be good. But there were hunters and monsters and Jackson just couldn’t deal with the thought of Danny getting hurt.  When he left the house his decision to really not do anything about the situation was final. It hurt, but he would have to deal with it.

He wasn’t all that surprised when later that evening Allison and Scott climbed in through his window to keep him company. They had always been the best at offering comfort after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the only chapter from Jackson's point of view, the rest will be all Danny. I felt like this was needed to clarify a few things.


	3. Chapter 3

Danny was confused. So terribly confused. Sure he had wished for some space so he could get over his ridiculous crush on Jackson, but now that he had it he had no idea what to do with it. Especially since he had no idea why.

It wasn’t exactly that Jackson was avoiding him, they still talked every day at school, but he seemed distant. He never touched Danny anymore, never proposed that they should do something alone and he always seemed tense around Danny.

He had no idea what had happened. The only explanation he could come up with was that Jackson had somehow realized that Danny had feelings for him and was now staying away on purpose. Probably because he didn’t want to have anything to do with Danny now. Or he didn’t want to get his hopes up?

Alright, Danny was just completely lost here. And he really missed Jackson. Missed his smile, his snarky comments on everything, the way he would just lean over to wrap his arm around Danny’s shoulder. It was ridiculous how far gone Danny was for that guy, he felt like a teenage girl with a really hopeless crush on someone they would never have. Maybe that wasn’t so far from the truth. All Danny really knew that he wanted this situation to go away.

Sadly that would only happen if he talked to Jackson. He had tried at first but every time he had talked himself into just bringing it up, his heart pounding way too fast in his chest, Jackson had somehow disappeared, as if he knew Danny would want to discuss something serious. It had been extremely frustrating and by now Danny had nearly given up.

While Jackson seemed to be dead set on avoiding Danny at any cost, Scott, Stiles, Allison and Lydia seemed to be determined to spend as much time around Danny as they could.  Scott would sit with him in Econ, making light conversation about class and lacrosse, Stiles or Allison would try to talk to him during lunch or between classes and Lydia somehow seemed to always be around. Asking questions about his love life and if he went to any clubs lately. It was all rather unnerving. It wasn’t that Danny disliked them, but all of them had refused to talk about Jackson and that was the only thing that Danny really cared about at the moment.

His weeks went on like this. Without Jackson, but with an awful lot of everyone that cared about him around. It had been a rather unnerving experience and Danny was getting really, really fucking tired of always being the one out of the loop.

Things started to change rapidly one rainy Friday in February.  The sky was grey and it had been raining for days now.  Danny felt like the weather was just reflecting his mood now. He was constantly cold and tired, his teachers were trying to drown him in homework and assignments and there was a big Jackson-shaped hole in his life. Jackson had always been able to put Danny out of his bad moods, but now he was just another reason for them.

Danny had noticed that he had only seen Isaac and Erica in school all day, but until now after lacrosse practice hadn’t paid much attention to it. It was just another thing he was used to by now, that sometimes they were all or partly missing in school, another mystery that no one felt like telling him about. Frustrating yes, but nothing that made him think too much anymore.

That is until Isaac started looking at him nervously in the locker room after practice. He didn’t even try to be subtle about it, several times starting to open his mouth to say something before deciding against it. Usually Danny was a patient person, but he’s had some pretty shit weeks and an even worse day, so he’s not in the mood to try to be understanding about Isaac’s behaviour.

“Seriously Isaac, if you want to say something just do it alright? You’re acting ridiculous,” he was aware that he sounded rude and felt bad for a second when Isaac flinched away from him, but then Isaac sighed and walked up to him.

Danny could hardly resist the urge to roll his eyes when Isaac looked around checking if someone was listening to them before he started to talk to Danny quietly, “Look, I know this must probably feel really strange to you, but can you do me a favour?”

“Uhm, that depends on what it is to be honest.”

“I really, really need you to drive straight home after school and to not leave your house tonight. Just be careful, okay?” Isaac sounded concerned, like Danny might get hurt if he didn’t listen to him right now, but Danny doesn’t really get what his problem is.

“I don’t really see why I should do that. Care to elaborate that statement?” He knew he sounded harsh again, but really getting a straight answer for once would be awesome.

“I’m sorry, I really can’t tell you,” he looked apologetic too, but Danny had enough.

“Of course you can`t! No one can ever tell me anything, right? What is it? Am I not worth anyone trusting me for once? Look, either you fucking tell me what’s up or you can get lost.”

Isaac sighed again,” I get that you’re frustrated, but this is not my decision to make okay? Please just be careful tonight. Jackson would kill me if something happened to you.”

And Danny knew better than to scream at Isaac, who really seemed to only deliver a message from someone else and who seemed genuinely concerned for Danny’s wellbeing, but the frustration was getting to him.

“You know what? If Jackson is so fucking concerned about me he could, oh I don’t know? Talk to me maybe! Not ignore me. I have no idea what his problem is. If he’s uncomfortable around me or whatever, he could at least have the decency to tell me himself. I’m sorry that I have feelings for him, but he’s acting like the biggest asshole right now and I really don’t need his little boyfriend pretending that he still cares about me. Just tell him to man up or leave me the fuck alone. I’m tired of feeling like I’m not worth your little secrets.”

He had intended to get Isaac to leave him alone with his words, but the curly haired boy only looked sad.

“I understand your anger, I really do. Maybe Jackson will come around, I don’t know. Just remember that he does what he does because he loves you alright? And please, please take care of yourself tonight,” and with that Isaac left the room. His team mates were staring at Danny curiously, and he hurried up to leave as soon as possible, too.

He was still replaying Isaac’s words in his head when he parked his car in front of his home.  Mostly the ones about Jackson’s motives behind all of this. Maybe he should have paid more attention to Isaac telling him to be careful, because as soon as he got out of his car he felt a sharp pain at his head and his vision went black.

*

The first thing Danny realized when he was regaining consciousness was a dull throbbing pain in his head. The second thing was a loud voice that was way too close to him and send sparks of pain through his skull.

“Oh look, sleeping beauty is waking up,” the voice spoke and Danny struggled to open his eyes.

Everything was blurry for a few seconds before his vision cleared. He was in a warehouse, there were at least five people around him most of them carrying guns and his hands and feet were tied securely to a chair. He was also pretty sure that the liquid substance running down his cheek was blood.

“What’s going on here? What do you want from me?” He made an effort to sound calm and confident since he was aware that his kidnappers would be more of a danger if they thought he was weak. Or at least he hoped so.

“Well, well,” the only woman in the room spoke up, she was the only one who wasn’t armed but her eyes made Danny shudder. They looked cold and unforgiving, “We don’t want much from you, but we know you can get us what we want. We’ve been watching all your little dogs for a while now, and they seem to care about you, especially the pretty one, so we thought we would take you, see how useful your knowledge is and then set up a trap. How do you think that sounds?”

“Crazy mostly. I have no idea what you are even talking about.”

The woman laughed, “Sure sweetie, you seem too smart to play dumb here, but since I’m a nice person we’ll help you out a little bit. Your little werewolf pack that you go to school with.  They are dangerous and we’re here to get rid of them, if the Argents are too weak to do it.”

What?

“I’m sorry, but I think you’re completely out of your mind,” Danny made an effort to sound polite, but the woman seemed to be even crazier than he had originally thought, “I’m pretty sure werewolves don’t exist.”

Danny expected screaming or violence, but all he got was hysterical laughter from the woman and chuckling from the men.

“I’m not sure yet if your friends really didn’t tell you anything or if you’re just pretending. Either way, I bet a little pain will make you talk and if there’s really nothing you can talk about, well I guess that’s just your loss. Steve, please show our guest what we’re capable of.”

And if Danny thought that woman’s smile was intimidating he soon realized that there were far worse things as soon a huge, muscular and angry looking man stepped forward with no sign of any emotion on his face.

Up until this point Danny had still hoped that this was all just some ridiculous joke, but now fear had started to overtake him.

“Please, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I know nothing. Please let me go,” he didn’t even have enough sense to feel ashamed or embarrassed anymore, all he felt was fear as the man stepped closer and closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh, I'm sorry?


	4. Chapter 4

The second time Danny woke up that evening all he felt was pain. The guy, Steve, had beaten him until Danny had begged and screamed for him to stop. He had also broken a few of his bones, he was certain of that.

Everyone around had only laughed, while the woman had asked more questions, none of which he could even comprehend.

When he managed to open his eyes again it was only him and the woman inside the warehouse.

Wordlessly she opened a bottle of water and held it to his lips. Danny swallowed greedily. He tasted blood in his mouth and every part of him hurt so much that he felt like he could barely take it.

“So, I’ve made my decision. It seems that you really have no idea what I’m talking about. Either that or you’re really loyal and a great actor, but I doubt that. So here’s the thing. As a little apology for hurting you I’ll tell you the truth. Although I do have to say that I enjoyed seeing you beg like that. I wonder if you’d do the same for your little wolf, the one that you have such a huge crush on?”

Jackson, Danny’s mind helpfully provided, it had to be Jackson.

“What do you know about him?”

“Apparently a lot more than you do, but let’s start at the beginning alright? Me and my friends here got a call a few months back saying that Beacon Hills seemed to be out of control. Too many werewolves and other supernatural creatures, you get what I mean? Well if you don’t, get used to the idea that they are indeed real. So, we’re hunters and got send to this town to take care of things. When we arrived we did what we usually do, watch anything suspicious until we have a lead and then go in to kill anything that might be harmful to humans. Now I know that there are already hunters in this town, the Argents, but since their daughter decided to join a werewolf pack I guess they can’t be trusted to take care of things. And well, here we are. The rest of their little pack seemed to be sticking close together, but we noticed that they seemed to care about you. Jackson, that’s his name right? He’s so in love with you, it’s ridiculous. Anyway, you seemed like the easiest target, with the rest of them glued to each other all the time and their parents too well protected. So here we are, just you and me. How does it feel to finally know what’s going on?”

Mostly Danny’s head was spinning from pain and the voice that told him that this woman was absolutely crazy wasn’t really helping. Unfortunately there was another voice in his head that told him that with all the crazy stuff that had happened lately this seemed almost like a good explanation. Animal attacks, Jackson dying and coming back, Allison and Stiles always looking like they got into a fight. Well maybe they actually did. Part of Danny really hoped that it wasn’t true, but there was also another part that was tempted by the idea that maybe everything could finally make sense. He just wasn’t sure how long he would get to enjoy the fact that he wasn’t excluded anymore, because he had no idea if he would even survive the night.

“Come on, talk to me, I’m getting bored here,” the woman’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

“I still think you’re crazy, no offense. But if you’re not, don’t you think that they are stronger than you?”

She started laughing again, a full body laugh this time, her head thrown back, when she spoke up again is still froze his blood, “You really think we came unprepared? We have guns loaded with wolfsbane, believe me, they won’t stand a chance.”

As if to prove her wrong sounds of a fight were suddenly heard from outside. Screaming, loud bangs, snarling and growling. Maybe the woman  really wasn’t completely crazy.

“You think that maybe you should check that out?” he asked her, trying to mask the fact the he was barely managing to stay conscious, but if he’s dying or his life is about to change forever he really wants to be there to see all of it. Call him crazy but Danny is many things but scared easily is not one of them.

“I don’t think so, they can handle a pack of teenage werewolves. Don’t be scared you’re safe here.”

“I would feel safer with them to be honest, they are not the ones who beat me up.”

“It’s a shame, you’re pretty, fun to be around, under other circumstances we might have liked each other.” She had leaned closer to Danny, their faces inches apart and Danny later wondered why she hadn’t paid more attention to the fight going on outside, but he would probably never know because the next second someone snarled, “Yeah, I don’t think so bitch,” and she had been knocked out.

Danny blinked up at his saviour for a few seconds in confusion before he realised that it was Jackson, with sideburns and fangs and claws and glowing blue eyes, but still Jackson.

Immediately relief flooded him and he felt the tension drain from his body. He was too exhausted to say much so the only thing he came up with was, “I always thought werewolves were prettier.” Then he promptly passed out.

*

When he regained consciousness Jackson’s now human face was staring down at him worriedly, “Danny? Thank god you woke up, these bastards got you really bad. How are you feeling?”

“Uhm, better now that I know that I won’t die. What the hell happened? Where are we?” he asked, not able to find the strength to look anywhere but at Jackson’s face that he was staring at automatically if he opened his eyes. He realized that he was lying between Jackson’s legs with his head in his lap but that was about all he could recognise besides the agonizing pain he was feeling.

“We took care of the situation, the hunters won’t bother you anymore, I promise. We’re in Derek’s car, Scott’s here too. We’re driving you to the hospital.”

“Hey, Danny,” Scott’s voice came from the front, “How are you feeling?”

“Well, I think if I wasn’t in so much pain I would probably freak out right now, but as it is dizzy, confused and really fucking tired.”

As if he had just been waiting for it Jackson suddenly moved the hand that had been resting on Danny’s waist under his shirt. Danny wanted to protest for a second but then relief hit him when the pain in his body suddenly lessened.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking some of your pain. Does it help?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s great, thanks.”

Jackson’s face darkened, “It’s my fault that they even took you. I should have been there to protect you.”

“You couldn’t know, and you saved me. I’ll be fine.  Did anyone else get hurt? You know, of your...pack?” The word felt strange in his mouth, but Jackson looked surprised so Danny guessed that it might have been the right one.

“Isaac got shot pretty bad, but he’ll be fine. The others are taking care of him.” Jackson’s face took on a complicated expression. A mix between determination, stubbornness and pain.

“Jackson, that’s enough. Stop or you’ll hurt yourself,” Derek’s voice came from the front, it was obvious that he cared but left no room for discussions.

“Sorry, we’ll be there soon. I promise. Just hold on a little longer,” Jackson whispered and then removed his hand from Danny’s skin and placed it back again over his shirt.

For a second Danny felt the pain again, then someone took his hand and it faded again.

“Better?” Scott asked and Danny nodded, “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. I already called my mom. She’ll look after you as soon as we arrive at the hospital. She’s used to doing it.”

“Great,” Danny said but he wondered how often these things actually happened if Scott’s mother was already used to them.

“I hope you know that you owe me an explanation as soon as my head doesn’t feel like it’s exploding anymore, right?” he told Jackson and the blonde nodded stiffly.

“I’m really sorry, Danny.”

“It’s not your fault, stop apologising. You can make it up to me.”

They settled into a more or less comfortable silence after that. Danny’s vision was turning blurry again and he really just wanted to close his eyes but he knew that sleeping would do him no good so he focused on Jackson’s face, his expression that was a mix of worry and fondness,  on his warmth that was surrounding him and on Scott’s hands in his. It would be okay.

*

Melissa McCall was an angel. In his wobbly and confused state Danny was absolutely sure of this. She cleaned his wounds, wrapped a bandage against his sprained wrist, told him he had a few broken ribs and to take it easy for a while. Then she gave him painkillers. Danny had never before been this grateful for a few pills. Mostly because Jackson, Scott and Derek had been taking turns taking away his pain and therefore touching him and while he really appreciated the effort, Derek was a complete stranger and Danny felt a little uncomfortable. He also suspected that it was taking its toll on them, even if none of them complained.

“Okay, I’m nearly done here, but I still need to check on some things and since Danny’s not in pain anymore it might be nice if you all gave him some space. Go wait outside boys! He’ll be fine,” Melissa told them and Derek and Scott obediently made their way outside, Scott sending Danny a small smile before leaving the room. Jackson looked reluctant, he hadn’t let go of Danny’s hand since they arrived at the hospital.

“It’s fine, Jackson. Let Mrs. McCall do her work. I’m okay,” Danny told him and tightened his grip on Jackson’s hand for a second reassuringly.

“You sure?” he asked. Danny nodded and Jackson sighed before letting go of his hand and moving towards the door. A second later he turned around again and pressed his mouth against Danny’s. It only lasted for a second, but Jackson seemed desperate to forward some kind of message to him. Danny had enough experience to know when a kiss was meaningless and when it wasn’t but Danny had absolutely no energy left to comprehend what it might mean.

“I’ll be right outside,” Jackson whispered against his lips, before he left the room and closed the door.

“Well, I think I will never get used to see Jackson show affection like that, but I do have to admit that that was cute. Are you also involved with my son?” Mrs. McCall asked while grinning at him.

“Huh, Jackson and me aren’t, I mean there’s no way we’d...no, just no,” Danny just wanted to sleep. His head hurt and the confusion he was feeling hadn’t disappeared at all. It only got worse with every passing second.

“You’ll have to call my parents before I can go home, right?”

She only smiled at him, “If this was an official medical examination then yes, I would have to do that, and then I also wouldn’t be able to let you go home soon. But with the way my son and his friends are living recently these things happen quite a lot and I have enough friends here that I won’t get in trouble if I help them out every once in a while. So technically you’re free to go home. But I’m worried about the wound on your head, it’s likely that you have a concussion.  You’re probably really tired right now, but I need to know that if you sleep someone wakes you up once an hour to check that you’re okay? You have someone who would do it?”

“Uhm, I guess someone would probably do it?” Danny was nearly one hundred percent sure that Jackson had no intention of letting him out of sight anytime soon. He was at a point where he didn’t even care where he slept as long as it was soon. Anything else, all the questions Danny currently had, would just have to wait until he had slept for at least 12 hours. Thank God it was Friday, well by now probably Saturday, but the point was that he could sleep as long as he wanted before he had to deal with any of his emotions.

“Okay, you’re free to go, if you take things easily and make sure that someone takes care of you for a while, but I’m guessing that my son and my possible sons-and-daughters-in-law  will take care of you. Can you get up?”

“I think so, thank you for your help,” Danny told her, before standing up slowly. He felt a little unsteady on his feet, but he was sure that he would at least make it to the car.

When he opened the door Jackson was already standing right in front of it, “Do you have super-hearing or something?”

“Actually yes, come on let’s get you out if here,” with that Jackson took his hand again and started walking. Scott and Derek were talking to Mrs. McCall but Danny was sure that they would catch up with them soon.

“I can’t really go home. I don’t want my parents to worry. Can I stay at your place?” he asked.

Jackson hesitated, “Technically yes, but my parents are home too tonight and if they see you I’m sure they’ll ask questions. But we can if you feel uncomfortable staying at Derek’s place.”

He thought about it, he really didn’t want to risk anyone seeing him like this and Jackson’s parents were friends with his parents so that probably wouldn’t end up too great.

“You’ll stay with me, right?”

“Of course, there’s enough space, you can just sleep it all off, I’ll wake you every hour and tomorrow we can talk, alright?”

“Okay, let’s just do that.” Jackson nodded and put his arm around Danny, which he was thankful for since the unstable feeling was only getting worse.

*

When they arrived at the house everyone else was gathered in the living room. Boyd was lying on the couch with Isaac on top of him, his face buried in Boyd’s neck. Erica was sitting on the back of the coach so that she could look at both of them.  Lydia, Stiles and Allison were leaning against the couch, sitting on the floor.

Derek and Scott immediately rushed to Isaac’s side, who only laughed at their worry, “I’m fine, I’m fine. The wounds are already healed just fine.” He sat up so he could look at Danny, who was heavily leaning against Jackson in the doorway, “How are you feeling, Danny?”

“Okay, a few bruises but I’ll be fine. I’m really sorry you got hurt because of me,” Danny told him. Isaac just smiled at him, “Nah, I heal quickly enough. I’m glad we got you out of there. I told you to take care of yourself, didn’t’ I?”

“Yeah, you did. I’ll listen the next time you give me advice.”

“I think Danny really needs some sleep right now. We can discuss everything else tomorrow, alright?” Jackson chimed in before leading Danny up the stairs and into one of the bedrooms.  Wordlessly Danny had let himself fall onto the bed and fell asleep almost immediately, he had texted his parents on the way to the house and told them that he was staying at a friend’s house. They wouldn’t worry too much, Danny had done it often enough before, so he could just lie down and forget everything for a while

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just hit 20k words at writing this so I thought I would share a little more with you. I would love to hear what everyone has to say about this, especially about this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

The first time Danny woke up and didn’t feel like immediately falling back asleep his phone told his it was 3 in the afternoon. Jackson was sitting propped against the headboard, fast asleep. Danny remembered being woken up a few timed during the night with Jackson’s worried face hovering over him and asking him questions. He’s also pretty sure that at one point when the sun had already been up Lydia had come in and told Jackson to get some sleep himself.

For a second Danny considered snuggling back into his pillow and getting back to sleep but he was hungry and at last his head had stopped hurting.  He looked around the room for the first time taking in his surroundings. The room was big and the walls were a light shade of purple. He wondered who had been in charge here. Probably one of the girls, or Stiles. There was white closet in one of the corners and a desk under the window. Even though the curtains were closed the room was bright enough to make out his surroundings without a problem. Most of the space was occupied by the big bed Danny and Jackson were currently lying in.

Danny looked up at Jackson again, even in his sleep he still looked troubled and he hated to see his best friend like this. He guessed that Jackson had stayed up all night watching over him so he decided to not wake him up. Instead he got up as quietly as possible and left the room, hoping to find someone who could help him get over his discomfort of being in a house he had never been to before. Technically he knew everyone who was living here but he still felt like an intruder.

He walked into the direction of the living room since it was the only room that he had already been in but before he even had the chance to enter, Lydia had already come rushing out and carefully to not hurt is injuries, wrapped her arms around him.

“Danny! I am so glad you’re okay. We were really worried, when we realised they had taken you,” she told him, “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah, thanks again for letting me stay here and for rescuing me.” He had been friends with Lydia once, good friends even. The fact that they both cared for Jackson had been the reason they had gotten closer at first, but they had always gotten along for other reasons, too. He had always appreciated her wit and the fact that she didn’t let anyone put her down. So maybe they hadn’t really been close lately, but it was nice to know that she still cared about him.

Scott had appeared behind Lydia in the doorway and when she let go of him, he shot Danny a smile, “You must be hungry, want breakfast? Jackson will probably be asleep for a while.”

Danny gave him a grateful nod and they led him into the kitchen. The room was big and flooded with light, the furniture looked expensive and everyone who loved cooking would probably start drooling just looking at all the stuff they owned. Most of the room was taken up by a big wooden table with many chairs scattered around it.

Scott led him to one of them and made a gesture that indicated that he should sit down. Scott dropped into the chair beside him, while Lydia started taking things out of the fridge.

“I can help, you don’t have to do everything yourself,” Danny offered, but Lydia only laughed, “I think I can do this myself, you’re still hurt and I’m guessing that you have a lot of things to come to terms right now, so just let me do this for you. “ She had a look on her face that made Danny realise that arguing with her would be useless so he just let it be.

“How are you holding up?” Scott asked him concerned.

“Good, I think. Although I feel like I’m just waiting for everything that has happened in the last few hours to come crashing down on me, but right now I’m calm. Can you tell me how exactly you knew what had happened and how you found me?”

“Of course, but don’t you have other questions first? About the whole werewolf thing?”

“No, not right now. I want to hear it from Jackson.” It might have been a stupid thought, but Danny felt like he deserved to hear all of it, especially why he never told Danny about any of this, from Jackson himself. He was interested in hearing what everyone else had to say, too, but not before he had a chance to talk with Jackson.

“They were stupid,” Scott started explaining, “Sent us a message that they had you. We came as soon as we could. We tried to keep most of them alive, but it wasn’t as easy as we hoped. They were foolish and underestimated our strength taking them out was easy. We handed them over to the sheriff’s department.  Jackson was really mad, when they heard that they had you. He was furious to say the least.”

The wave of affection for his best friend that hit him was unexpected and made him remember their kiss from last night. How desperate Jackson had been. Could it be that he did have feelings for Danny? It still seemed unlikely. For now he just took comfort in the fact that Jackson still cared enough about him to rescue him, after being distant for the last few weeks.

Lydia placed a plate with pancakes and a mug of coffee in front of him and took a seat next to him, “Eat! You need to regain your strength.” Danny didn’t need to be told twice. The food looked delicious and he hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday.

“Where are the others?” Danny asked between taking bites of his food.

“Well, Allison and Stiles are with her father, telling him about what happened yesterday. Derek and Boyd are cleaning up at the warehouse, Erica and Isaac are still asleep upstairs. Isaac is completely healed by now, but it’s good if he gets some rest and Erica’s keeping him company. Well, and Scott and me were doing homework.”

Danny was tempted to laugh about the ridiculousness of it all. Yesterday they had been fighting to get him out of a life-or-death-situation and now they were doing something as ridiculously mundane as doing homework.

“Danny? Danny, are you here?” Jackson came rushing down the stairs and into the kitchen, seconds after they heard him shouting. He stopped in the doorway, looking at the scene in front of him, his shoulders sagging in relief, “I’m sorry,” he walked towards them and Scott immediately got up from his place closest to Danny, so Jackson could sit there, “I woke up and you weren’t there and I just panicked a little. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m fine. I’m sorry I scared you, I just couldn’t sleep any longer,” Danny told him trying to sound calming. He hesitated for a second before putting his unhurt hand over Jackson in a reassuring way, “I’m really sorry you were worried.”

Jackson just looked at him. Affection, worry, insecurity all mixed into one. His stare was intense enough that Danny felt uncomfortable, as if someone was trying to understand all of his feelings and secrets, but he couldn’t look away.

It was Lydia’s voice that startled them both out of the moment they shared.

“Jackson? Are you hungry? I made you pancakes. Come on, let Danny eat before we deal with everything else.”

Jackson nodded and started eating. They all fell silent for a while, Lydia continued cooking while Scott got one of his books and started reading. A few minutes later Danny realised why Lydia was making even more pancakes, when Erica and Isaac entered the room, both looking like they would rather still be sleeping.

When Danny finished eating he decided that it might be a good thing to call his parents again, so they wouldn’t start worrying about him. They usually let Danny come and go as he pleased as long as he doesn’t go out too much and his grades didn’t suffer from it, but they also tended to worry if they didn’t hear from him in a long time. The call was quick and when Danny headed back into the kitchen everyone had finished eating and Isaac and Scott were busy doing the dishes. Jackson seemed to be deep in conversation with Lydia and Erica. Not sure what he was supposed to do right now, Danny stopped in the doorway.

Jackson seemed to sense his discomfort and joined his side, “Do you want to go home?” He asked, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

“No, if you have time right now, I’d like to hear your explanation for all of this, if that’s no problem? I think you really owe me the truth.”

Jackson sighed and wrapped his arms around Danny. For a second Danny was stunned, but then hugged Jackson back. If felt nice, he had really missed his best friend lately.

“I was so fucking worried about you, I thought I’d go crazy. If something had happened to you; I am so incredibly sorry. I hope you know that. I never meant for you to get hurt. I’ll tell you everything, I swear.” By the end of his speech Jackson was clinging to Danny so hard that his ribs were throbbing in pain, but he couldn’t find the strength to tell Jackson. He was too relieved to hear that Jackson hadn’t just saved and cared for him because he felt like he was responsible for Danny. He was just glad that Jackson still cared.

“Jackson, I think you’re hurting Danny. Be careful,” Lydia interrupted and Jackson let go of Danny immediately, “Fuck. I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“It’s okay, I can handle it. Could we maybe talk right now?”

Now that he wasn’t in pain or too hungry to think straight anymore, Danny just wanted to know everything.

Only now the fact that werewolves actually existed was sinking in. It seemed crazy and unbelievable and if Danny hadn’t seen it himself, he would question his own sanity for even considering this possibility. But apparently he was surrounded by them on a daily basis, went to school with them even. He just wanted the whole story.

“I can tell you,” Jackson answered his question, “But I would prefer to not do it alone. Can we wait till the other’s get here? Some parts are not my story to tell and I’m not sure if I can do it alone.” While he was talking, he had led Danny into the room the rest of the pack had been in last night, “Let’s just sit down and wait for the others to get home, ok?”

Danny nodded and Jackson took that as consent to take Danny’s hand and pull him down beside himself onto the couch. It took Danny a while to find a position that wasn’t hurting his ribs and bruises too much, but eventually Jackson just wrapped an arm around his shoulder and guided Danny until he was leaning against his chest. It was comfortable enough that he didn’t complain.

“You know all of this being manhandled by you is making me feel really weak.  Is this a werewolf thing?”

“It’s more of a I want you close to me because I’m scared you’ll get hurt again thing, but whatever makes you okay with it.”

“Right now it’s still nice but I’m guessing this might get old really fast.”

Jackson laughed at that and Danny could feel it vibrating through his whole body since they were sitting so close together, “I guess it does. Allison and Stile complain about it all the time.”

“So, they aren’t werewolves, then?”

“Nope, they are humans and they are happy with that. The rest of us are all wolves, though. Derek was born as one and the rest of us, well you’ll hear about it all soon, okay? The others just got home.”

Jackson was right. Everyone who had been in the kitchen before was trailing into the living room and sitting down somewhere. A few moments later, Derek, Stiles, Allison and Boyd joined them as well. They all greeted him and asked how he was. He wasn’t sure if it was just because he had been hurt and they pitied him or felt guilty about it, but they all seemed genuinely worried about his wellbeing.

Derek asked him a few questions about last night and Danny told him all that he could remember, while Jackson held him close the whole time. Until now Danny had been able to forget the fear and the panic he had felt last night, how absolutely terrified he had been that he might never see anyone he cared about again. Only Jackson’s presence at his side was keeping him from freaking out, while he realised how close to dying he had been. He had the feeling that he would be having nightmares for a while.

“Good, we guessed all that. If they had connections to other hunters that’s worryingly, but Chris seemed to think they aren’t really that dangerous. We’ll keep an eye out, the hunters that we fought yesterday weren’t really being careful. We knew that they were here and that they had planned something. We were ready for them and keeping an eye out, yet somehow we missed that they were after you. I’m really sorry, Danny. I’m glad we got you out of there,” Derek told him, sounding guilty and resigned but honest.

Danny never had much of an opinion about Derek. He knew the basics about the Hale fire and the few times that he had seen Derek afterwards, minus the incident at Stiles’ place, usually with one of the others and Danny always got the impression that he was constantly agitated with everyone around him. More than once he had wondered what kept them all tied to Derek, but since Danny’s rescue Derek had been nothing but caring and gentle. He also seemed to be tense and distant, but Danny’s view on Derek had still improved a lot in the last 24 hours. At least Danny didn’t feel scared of him anymore.

“So,” Jackson started, looking uncomfortable, “do you have any questions first or do you just want me to start explaining?”

“No, just...everything that’s important. Please.”

“I’ll try my best, ask if you have questions, okay?”

And then Jackson started talking, about the Hale fire, and Scott being bitten, how he had caught on about the whole werewolf thing, Allison’s family, especially Kate Argent (they told him that she started the fire, but Danny had a feeling that there was more to it, but it didn’t feel important to the story so he let it be) and Peter. Everyone added comments when they felt that Jackson forgot something. Once Jackson was done explaining about the night of the winter formal, Lydia being attacked, Peter dying, Jackson asking Derek for the bite, Derek biting Erica, Isaac and Boyd, Jackson fell silent.

“So that’s it? You were all wolves, became a pack and fight mythical creatures and hunters since then?”

“Let’s go to my place!” Jackson said all of the sudden, “There’s more to all of this, okay? But it’s about me and I need to tell you because you deserve to know the truth, but not with everyone around. I can’t...I can’t do it.”

“Jackson, you don’t have to do this on your own. We can be there. Tell him, you know you don’t have to do this alone?” Erica reassured him, and everyone else agreed with her.  Danny noticed that Jackson was trembling beside him.

“No, I know I don’t _have_ to do this alone, but Danny deserves to hear it from me and I’d like to be alone with him for this. I can handle it. I’ll call if anything happens. Is it okay if we go to my place?”

The last sentence was directed at Danny. He had no idea what was going on right now, but Jackson was obviously unhappy about something, so he just agreed. He got up slowly. Allison was at his side faster than he could look.

“I know we have never been close before, but is it alright if I hug you right now?” She smiled at him shyly and Danny was immediately willing to agree to anything she might want. He might be gay but people caring about him he could appreciate whether he was attracted to them or not.

“Sure, go ahead,” he told her and Allison pulled him into a gentle hug, “I know you’ll take care of him, but if something happens call us. I know all of this is really overwhelming but you’re doing a really great job at dealing with it. Be strong a little longer, for Jackson. He needs you right now. You’re great Danny.” She whispered all of this into his ear and Danny only nodded not sure if werewolf hearing could pick up on what she just told him.

When he looked at Jackson again he had gotten up as well. His forehead was resting against Derek’s and they were looking at each other with so much intensity that Danny felt uncomfortable watching.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t yours either. We’re leaving now. I’ll call later. Don’t worry.”

Everyone seemed to be worried about them leaving but no one said anything when Jackson took his hand and they left the house. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once this was supposed to be covering only the basics but somehow it turned incredibly detailed. I hope no one minds that. 
> 
> Once again a huge thank you to everyone who's stuck with this verse. I really appreciate it so much. You are all gorgeous and awesome and my favorites. 
> 
> As always, comments are appreciated. Feel free to criticize.


	6. Chapter 6

The drive to Jackson’s was silent. Jackson looked pale, but kept his eyes fixed on the road. Danny was becoming more and more nervous. What could be so bad that Jackson was so terrified of telling him about? Had he gone feral after becoming a werewolf? Had he killed someone? Danny doubted it, from what he had heard the pack took care of each other enough that no one was in danger of being a threat to others, but maybe that hadn’t always been the case. Thinking about it now, Danny realised that most of them hadn’t even be friends until the end of their junior year and all the stuff he was told about happened during sophomore year so it might have taken them some time to get their shit together.

Danny was so lost in thought that it took him a second to realize that the car had stopped in front of Jackson’s house. Jackson was staring at him with an unreadable expression.

Danny was curios, that much was true, but he could also see Jackson didn’t want to have whatever conversation they were about to have, “You know, you don’t have to tell me everything. I know I said that I’d wanted to hear it all, but if it’s too much I understand. You don’t have to tell me if you’re not comfortable with that.”

“No, it’s fine. I just...let’s go inside, first,” Jackson took a deep breath before opening in the door and exiting his car. Danny hurried to follow him.

Once they both sat on Jackson’s bed facing each other, Danny was really starting to become nervous. He had never seen Jackson like this. He seemed terrified and looked around the room like he was searching for the best way to escape. He hadn’t met Danny’s eyes once since they arrived. 

“You’re really starting to freak me out, okay? I meant what I said in the car, if you’re not ready to tell me that’s okay. I won’t think any less of you.” He meant it. Satisfying his own curiosity was not worth seeing his best friend in such a state of emotional distress.  He ignored the part of his conscious that Jackson just didn’t tell him, because he didn’t trust Danny enough.

Jackson kept his gaze locked on his hands that were folded in his lap, “I know. I’m just terrified because I know that after this you’ll never think of me the same way again. This will change everything between us, I just know it.”

Danny winced in pain at hearing these words. Seeing Jackson this vulnerable was breaking his heart. Especially if he was beating himself up over the fact that he might lose Danny’s friendship or something.

“Hey, no, come on. Don’t say something like that,” he shuffled closer on the bed until his knees were touching Jackson’s and took both of his hands in his, “Look at me. Really look at me and listen when I tell you this. You are my best friend. You have always been my best friend. I love you more than most other people in the world and there is literally nothing that you could tell me right now, that would stop me from wanting to be your friend. I don’t care how you might have fucked up, I’ll always be there for you. I promise."

Apparently Jackson had needed to hear these words because he relaxed visible. Not enough that Danny would stop worrying anytime soon, but enough that he wasn’t as scared anymore.

“It’s just that I’ve really fucked something up and I never had to tell this to someone because the others all know about it anyway. It took me a long time to be able to speak about certain things that happened and it’s still hard for me and...I’ll just start okay?”

“Whenever you feel ready. I’m here and I won’t go away anytime soon.”

From the way Jackson had acted Danny had been prepared for a lot, but that doesn’t stop the feeling of dread and pure horror that settles in his stomach the longer Jackson talked. About being controlled, barely remembering anything he had done, but knowing with a certainty that he had killed someone. That Matt made him do it. At that point Danny just felt sick for ever feeling any kind of positive emotion about the guy. When Jackson started talking about the night of the lacrosse game, the one Danny still had nightmares about, both of them were shaking.

“So yeah, without Lydia I would be dead now. After that the two of us kinda kept to ourselves for a while. The rest was already becoming closer, but we just needed to figure all of this out for ourselves. Eventually we joined the pack and it helped a lot and yeah...that’s all there is to tell right now.”

Jackson looked at him like he just waited for Danny to freak out, leave and never come back.  All Danny felt was anger and sadness. Anger towards everyone who had put Jackson through this hell and sadness that Jackson had had to deal with all of this. He was angry at himself, too because he hadn’t been able to help. He decided to hug the shit out of Lydia the next time he saw her.  He was so lost in his own conflicting emotions that he only realized that he still hadn’t said anything to Jackson when the other boy looked already close to panicking.

“Jackson, I am so incredibly sorry.”

“I know, I get it. It’s okay, if you want to leave now.”

“I wasn’t done talking. What I was trying to say is that I would like to find anyone who did this to you and kill them in the most violent way possible, if they weren’t already dead. I’m sorry this happened to you.”

The look of disbelief on Jackson’s face made Danny want to tear out his hair in frustration, “Didn’t you hear what I told you? I _killed_ people, Danny. I was the one who attacked you the night at Jungle. I killed Isaac’s father.”

“It wasn’t you. You were being controlled, which from my point of view means that you were being used for someone else’s sick plans. There is nothing you should be blamed for here.”

Jackson opened his mouth to speak again, but Danny cut him off, “No, I’ve heard it all. Stop blaming yourself. I’m glad you told me the truth. I know now and I still consider you my best friend and see no reason to leave you, ever.”

Jackson just looked at him like he heard what Danny was saying but couldn’t comprehend the meaning of any of it even if he tried. Once again Danny acted on instinct, scooting closer towards Jackson and wrapping his arms around his shaking best friend, who immediately pressed closer to him, his face against Danny’s chest.

Word of assurance were tumbling out of his mouth in a constant flow, but Danny barely recognised   what he was saying. Things like ‘I’m here. It’s fine. You did nothing wrong. I won’t ever leave. I love you’. It barely mattered. The only thing that mattered was Jackson who was slowly calming down in Danny’s arms.

Eventually his legs were starting to hurt and he moved them both around so that Danny was sitting propped up against the headboard with Jackson on his chest. It was good to know that the manhandling still worked both ways even if Jackson was a werewolf.  

They stayed silent for a while, Jackson clinging to Danny like his life depended on it.  Meanwhile Danny had time to order his thoughts a little. He was still in a state of shock from seeing Jackson this vulnerable. Jackson blamed himself for everything that had happened, that much was clear, but Danny didn’t believe it for a second. His best friend would never kill anyone on purpose. He couldn’t even imagine what Jackson had been going through after he became a wolf and the memories came back. He was surprised that he barely noticed any changes in Jackson. It made him wonder if the pack had supported Jackson enough that he had been able to handle it or if he had just been too focused on his own life.

Jackson was asleep on top of him when Danny checked on him next and Danny felt relieved. He had the feeling that Jackson barely got any sleep last night. It was already getting dark outside and Danny saw no reason why he shouldn’t just get too sleep to. He was exhausted himself.  Once again he moved them both around carefully until was lying on his side with Jackson in front of him. He wondered for a second if Jackson would feel uncomfortable if Danny held him, but then he gave into the urge. Jackson would have to deal with being the little spoon.

It felt good to be this close to Jackson and it certainly wasn’t helping to get rid of his crush at all. Right now Danny had no idea what they were. Jackson had kissed him and he had stayed close to Danny since they had saved him, but maybe all of this was just because Jackson worried about him? 

Or maybe he did feel more? He had been really scared of losing Danny.

Whatever it was, Danny would figure it out and decide what to do next. The only thing he was sure about was that there was no way he would leave Jackson on his own, not after everything he heard this day.

Eventually, even though his thoughts were a mess, Danny fell asleep with Jackson warm, calm and peaceful in his arms.

*

He was being woken up by a loud noise, followed by someone cursing.

When he opened his eyes he saw Derek standing in the middle of the room. For a second Danny was scared that he would have to deal with a jealous alpha wolf but Derek only walked closer towards them quietly so he wouldn’t wake up Jackson.

“I’m sorry, that I woke you up. I just wanted to see if you were okay.”

Danny was stunned for a second, “Oh, we’re fine. I think.”

“Did he tell you?”

“Yeah. I’m glad he did. He shouldn’t have worried so much though. I don’t think it was his fault and this won’t change anything.”

“Good, that’s good.” It seemed like Derek wanted to say more, but no words left his mouth, though he didn’t make a move to leave the room just yet, either.  Danny tried to get rid of awkward tension in the room.

“So, how come Jackson didn’t wake up? Shouldn’t his werewolf senses make him more aware of things like that? I mean even I woke up from the noise you made.”

“The chair wasn’t there before,” Derek frowned, “His wolf knows that I’m no threat that’s why he keeps sleeping. That and the fact that’s he’s exhausted himself a little too much the last day and a half.”

“Yeah well, don’t worry. I’ll take care of him. Or I can leave, if you…I don’t know.”

Suddenly Danny’s not so sure that he’s allowed to be this close to Jackson. After all Jackson is in a relationship. In more than one actually. They would have every right to tell Danny that this isn’t okay, especially since they are probably aware of his feelings for Jackson.

On the other hand none of them had been anything but sweet and caring towards Danny and he didn’t think they were the kind of people who would pretend to like someone when they didn’t. It wasn’t even like Derek had looked concerned or angry when he found them like this. But still, Danny worried.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You two should have some time together. I was just worried. I’m sorry I woke you up.”

And with that Derek was gone again. Danny fell back asleep almost immediately. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good? Bad? I have a feeling you'll like the next chapter. I'll try to update soon.


	7. Chapter 7

When Danny woke up the next morning, Jackson had turned around in his arms and was staring at him. Danny’s arm was still around Jackson’s waist.

“Uhh, good morning?”

“I’m sorry. About yesterday,” Jackson told him and he was wearing the look on his face that told Danny that he was totally ashamed about his behaviour.

“It’s okay. There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

“Everyone keeps saying that.”

“Yeah, maybe you should listen to them then.”

“I’m trying, ok? It’s not that easy,” Danny didn’t mean to make Jackson angry but apparently it’s a topic he’s discussing more often than he’d like to admit.

“I get that. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know you didn’t. Just…can we talk about something else? Do you have any other questions?”

He thought about it for a second. The thing that was still bugging him was the last few weeks before he had been kidnapped, when Jackson had been distant and strange. He really wondered why, but his feeling told him that bringing it up right now might not go over well. But thinking of it, Danny had many other questions that seemed less dangerous right now.

“Actually yes, I do. Many of them, but let’s forget about werewolves for a while. Why did you never tell me about your relationships with the rest of the pack? I mean it’s not like either of you hid it but you never offered any information either. Tell me something about them.”

“It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you. I just wasn’t really sure how, without bringing up all the werewolf stuff. Even if you know about that, it’s still…not exactly normal I guess.”

Danny couldn’t help but laugh at that, “Yeah, well. I noticed. But it is like that right? You are all dating each other? How does that even work?”

“I have no idea honestly. It kinda just happened. We became a pack and it worked surprisingly well and then feelings and attraction happened. We just went with it. I think it’s easier if you have werewolf instincts? Like, the human side of me kept telling me it was crazy and could never work, but the wolf just did what felt right. I wanted to tell you, but I had no idea how to explain it. We’re just together, all of us.” The longer Jackson continued talking the more he seemed to relax and Danny knew he had chosen the right topic.

“Dude, you’re dating Scott and Stiles. Do you know how weird it was for me to see that at first? I was wondering if you had hit your head somewhere or something. For a while I thought Derek had you all on drugs.”

Jackson laughed. Laughed so hard he started shaking, “That’s the best theory I’ve heard in a long time. I have to tell him that, he’ll be pissed. Erica will probably tease him mercilessly for the next few weeks. She loves all these rumours about Derek being the creepy older guy who somehow seduced us to do unholy things to us.”

“He did turn most of you, though,” Danny stated and Jackson immediately stopped laughing.

“It’s true. But he thought he did the right thing, he knew he needed a pack to become stronger and he offered it to those who wanted, needed it. Things went wrong, I won’t deny that, but Derek meant well. And now he’s stuck with us. Believe me it took lots of begging from our side to get him to do anything sexual.”

And now Danny had to fight off the mental image of Jackson begging for sex. Bad idea, really bad idea, especially with Jackson so close. He tried to find something that would hopefully distract Jackson from that.

“You’re happy with them, right? You seem to be.”

“Ah, yes I am. I honestly have no idea where I would be without them. As a werewolf you need a pack, but we’re so much more than that. I’m glad Lydia dragged me there even though I was too stubborn and proud at first. It’s not always perfect, we fight a lot too, but it works. And yes, even with Stiles and Scott. It was weird for me, too, but it’s still good with them.”

And that was when it really hit Danny. Jackson was hopelessly in love with them. The way his eyes lit up when he talked about the pack was something that Danny believed only happened in movies. How could he have even considered the idea that Jackson might return his feelings?

It hurt, but Danny had promised himself that he would be there for Jackson and he wasn’t backing down from it because of a broken heart.  However, he could at least tease his best friend a little about his obvious feelings.

“Wow, you really are totally in love with them. I can’t believe I’m actually witnessing it,” he tried to sound teasing and he really hoped that he succeeded.

“Oh, shut up,” Jackson blushed and Danny smirked in victory. That is until Jackson hit him in the face with one of the oversized pillows he kept on his bed.

Danny wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. He scrambled to his knees and grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it in Jackson’s direction, who let out an indignant yelp before attacking Danny again.

It went on for a while, both of them enjoying the feeling of mindless, easy fighting. Technically Danny only had one hand he could use and a few ribs that he should be careful about, but Jackson seemed to be aware of that. He wasn’t being easy on Danny but he also made sure that he wouldn’t hurt him.

By the time Jackson managed to get the upper hand by rolling on top of Danny and sitting on his legs both were laughing so hard they had trouble breathing.

“I missed you,” Jackson admitted between taking deep breaths, “I missed this.”

“Well, why did you avoid me the last few weeks then?”

Jackson froze on top of him. Oh shit, Danny knew he shouldn’t have brought it up.

Seconds later all thoughts were gone from his mind because Jackson had leaned down to crash their lips together in a desperate, frantic kiss. Jackson kissed him like his life depended on it and all Danny could do was try to respond as eagerly as possible. Technically he knew that this shouldn’t be happening, but every part of him begged him to just continue kissing Jackson and he really couldn’t come up with a single reason why he shouldn’t right now.

At least until Jackson pulled away. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry Danny, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Yeah, no, I get it, it’s okay. You didn’t see the rest of your pack for a while and you probably miss them and this just happened.”

Jackson stilled on top of him, “What?”

“That’s why you kissed me right? It was an accident. It’s fine.” It’s not fine, but Danny would have to deal with that later.

“Wait. You think I kissed you because I haven’t been with my pack lately? How does that even make sense?”

Nothing makes sense anymore, Danny has stopped trying, “I…don’t know? Why else would you kiss me?”

Jackson just looked at him. And then looked at him some more until all Danny wanted to do get away from under him in order to avoid being looked at like he was some complicated puzzle to figure out.

“You don’t know,” Jackson stated.

“I didn’t know many things until yesterday.” Danny’s heart was beating out of his chest and the stupid hope was reappearing again, but he tried to play it cool.

“You’re not aware of the fact that I have the most hopeless, worst crush in the world on you,” Jackson sounded genuinely surprised.

“I’m pretty sure that’s my line.” Yeah, in hindsight that might not have been the best response, but Danny was working under a lot of pressure here.

“Oh,” was all Jackson said and Danny agreed wholeheartedly.

This was happening. This was his life. Danny was sure stuff like this didn’t happen in real life.

“You…?” he started but had no idea how to finish the question.

Jackson seemed to get it though, “Yeah, and you?”

Danny nodded.

“I thought,” both of them said at the same time before they burst out laughing.

“Can we skip all the talking about feelings and just make out a little more?” Jackson asked and Danny could not agree with anything harder. There had been enough talking lately. Kissing sounded like way better idea.

Especially when Jackson leaned down again to kiss Danny again. Slower this time, but not any less intense. They took their time, exploring what the other liked. Somehow nothing about the way Jackson kissed him was unexpected. It was forceful and demanding and exactly like him. Danny felt safer than he ever did with anyone else.

“Are you sure about this?” Jackson asked him between kisses.

“Totally. I want this. God, you have no idea how much I want this.”

“Good, because I don’t think I can stop.” Jackson seemed to be less smug about this than Danny had expected. Instead Danny got the impression that Jackson was just genuinely happy about this development.  The excitement Danny felt upon realizing this was overwhelming.  He tried to cover it up by making out with Jackson some more. It worked pretty great.

So, if it had been up to Danny they would have spent the rest of the day in bed doing nothing. Sadly they both had to realize that only eating once yesterday hadn’t been enough.  Eventually they decided to get up for food.

“You know what? We probably don’t have anything eatable in the house anyway so we should go out for lunch. Make it our first date,” Jackson proposed. Danny was still having trouble believing that any of this was actually real, but he agreed enthusiastically.

“Great, I’ll just take a quick shower,” Jackson told him, before pressing another quick kiss against Danny’s lips and disappearing into the bathroom.

Danny let himself fall back on the bed. There was a stupid grin on his face but he couldn’t stop. After months of fighting his feelings for Jackson realising that he might actually have him felt better than anything else he could imagine. It somehow made being kidnapped and beaten up a little less terrifying, if this was the result.

He shot off a quick text to his parents, just to make sure that they knew he was okay. He would have to go home tonight or they would become suspicious. He should probably come up with an excuse why he had a few broken bones.

He should also put on some different clothes. He had slept in them for two nights now. No thinking much of it he walked towards Jackson’s closet. They had always borrowed each other’s clothes. It only hit him when he saw Boyd’s lacrosse hoodie, a batman shirt Danny was pretty sure belonged to Stiles and an impressive collection of bras and panties all neatly kept in Jackson’s closet that he remembered that they couldn’t just do this.

Jackson was in relationships, good relationships. Relationships that made him happy and had helped him through a really bad time. And Danny was ruining that right now. He felt disgusted with himself. He had no right to kiss Jackson and he shouldn’t have done that. He was really starting to panic right now. How did he believe he could have this?

“Danny? What’s wrong?” Jackson’s voice came from the direction of the bathroom. Seconds later he was at Danny’s side, “What happened? You’re freaking me out here. Danny? Are you in pain?” He had both hands on Danny’s shoulders and looked at him searchingly, trying to find the source of his discomfort.

“I’m sorry Jackson. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. We shouldn’t be doing…this.”

Jackson’s hands dropped immediately and his face took on an expression of reluctant acceptance, “I understand. If this is all too much for you, I get it. Walk away from this as long as you can. I know it’s dangerous. It’s okay.”

“What? Not because of that. I just don’t want to be the one who’s responsible for a fight between you and the pack. It’s not fair and a shitty thing to do and I don’t think we should start this with lies and cheating and I don’t know.”

“Oh, shit. Of course you would think that. Look this sounds really stupid, but we actually had a discussion about this. Apparently they were aware of the fact that my crush on you wasn’t as hopeless as I thought it was and they saw this coming and they kinda gave me permission to date you?”

“Oh, thank god. I didn’t think I could have handled going back to being just friends.”

“I, Danny, we really should talk about this properly,” Jackson sounded concerned, “Let me put on some clothes and then we can get food and really discuss this, okay?”

Right, Jackson was in front of him. Wet and with only towel around his waist. Now that he wasn’t freaking out anymore, Danny could take a second to appreciate the view. Sadly Jackson disappeared into the bathroom again and Danny went on with his search for clean clothes. It took him a while since half of the shirts he found he had never seen on Jackson before, so he assumed that they didn’t belong to him. When Jackson came out of the bathroom and saw Danny in his clothes he only grinned at him.

They stuck to meaningless small talk on the way to the restaurant, both of them not really sure how to approach the subject again. Danny was still trying to process the fact that apparently Jackson had permission to date him from his pack. It explained why they were all so nice towards him, but also brought up many new questions.

After they were seated and had ordered their food, Danny decided that he might as well try to get a few answers since overthinking this would only lead to more misunderstandings.

“So, I got this right? The pack realised that there was something between us and they told you it would be okay if something would happen. Could it be that this was the reason you’ve been avoiding me these last few weeks?”

Jackson looked at his hands guiltily, “Technically yes. It just didn’t make sense for me that you would feel the same, so I thought it would be better if I kept my distance for a while, so I wouldn’t do something stupid. I didn’t want to drag you into all this either. It’s dangerous and really fucked up sometimes. I was trying to protect you, I guess. I still think you should not take this lightly. You still have the chance to forget the last few days ever happened, to turn away from everyone who’s involved. It would certainly save you from a lot of trouble.”

“This isn’t Twilight Jackson. I’m aware that it’s dangerous. I have been kidnapped by a group of crazy werewolf hunters, if you haven’t noticed. If I wanted to back out of this I would. I won’t leave you alone with this.” Danny hasn’t actually thought much about this before, but he knew that It was the truth as soon as he speaks the words. If Jackson is in this, then so will he be.

“Okay, okay. I guess it won’t do anyone any good if I try to talk you out of this. But it’s still not that easy. Even if the pack is okay with us being together, are you if you know that I’m also with them. It’s a lot to ask. Technically it would be fair if I said that you can date whoever you want, too, since I’m not only with you, but I really don’t think I could stand that.”

Danny got the impression that Jackson had really thought about this a lot. He was a little touched that he worried that much.

“I haven’t really thought about it to be honest. I just assumed that if they are okay with it, we could be dating. I never expected you to leave them. I guess I just got used to the fact that you’re with them? And it’s not really that unfair. You have feelings for them, it’s not like it’s just about sex and I don’t feel what I feel for you about anyone else, so it’s not an issue.”

“You really did pay a lot of attention to us, didn’t you?”

“Yeah well, I had to if I wanted to know what was going on in my best friend’s life.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you out of the loop.”

“You did what you thought was best, you shouldn’t apologise for that.”

Their food arrived and they both forgot about their conversation for a while, both too hungry to put off eating any longer. The silence helped Danny to order his feelings. Mostly he felt ecstatic because Jackson wanted him and they might get the chance to make this work. He had the feeling that the ‘It’s dangerous and maybe it would be better if you turned away now’ argument would be brought up again, but for now Jackson seemed to be willing to let it rest.

“So, where exactly does this leave us,” Danny asked, after they had finished eating.

“Wherever you want us to be. I already told you, I want you, anyway I can have you, but I think you should think about this first. You need to know if you can do this, being with me, even if it’s dangerous. Or being with me, even if I’m with other people, too. It’s up to you, really. Just don’t take this decision lightly. I’m not sure if I could handle it, if you changed your mind all of the sudden.”

Once again it took Danny’s breath away how openly Jackson talked about his feelings.  He wanted to say yes, yes to everything he might be able to have with Jackson, but he knew that his best friend had a point. Rushing into things might be a terrible idea. Danny wanted to believe that he could handle everything, but to be completely honest, he didn’t even know enough about the situation to make this decision.

“I…kinda see your point. I know I want this right now, but maybe we should just take things slow? Do whatever feels right? I think I’ll have many more questions within the next few weeks. Let’s try the whole dating thing for…let’s say three weeks and then we can decide if this works. And if not, we go back to being best friends, somehow. Would that be okay for you?”

Jackson looked unsure for a second, but then he nodded, “Yeah, it’s fine. It’s probably for the best. Ask whenever you have questions and please, tell me if something makes you uncomfortable.”

“Stop worrying so much. I can take care of myself. We can do this. You’ll see.”

“I know you can. It’s just that we were all thrown into this and I just don’t want you to regret this one day.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Some parts yes, but the way it is now? I’m happy with that for the most.”

They left it at that. Jackson insisted on paying for their food and Danny let him, just this once, because Jackson had told him that otherwise this wouldn’t be a proper date. Danny ignored the butterflies in his stomach.

He told Jackson to drive him home after that. His parents were probably not happy about the fact that he hadn’t been home all weekend. He also had homework to do, but he was fairly sure that he would end up ignoring that tonight. He needed some time alone to think. His whole world had been turned upside down in 48 hours and he hadn’t had one minute for himself yet.

When Jackson parked in front of his house both of them weren’t sure what to do or say. They just sat beside each other in silence. Eventually Jackson spoke up, “If something’s wrong you call me alright? If the pain comes back or something else.”

“I promise, but I’m fine.”

Jackson sighed and wrapped one arm around Danny’s shoulder, “Look, I know you think you’re fine right now, but you’ve been through a lot and once you’re alone, I know how it is. It might all come crashing down. Just promise you’ll call, okay?”

“Okay, I promise. Don’t worry too much.”

Jackson nodded from where he had his head resting on Danny’s shoulder. Then he lifted his head slowly, smug grin back on his face. Danny had missed it.

“So…?” Jackson started.

“Yeah?”

“When we say that we’re taking it slow, how slow are we talking?”

Danny moved his hand under Jackson’s chin so that he could tilt his head until they were face to face.

“Not slow enough that we can’t do this.” And then they were kissing again, slow but with force. This Danny could do, flirting and kissing and Jackson being back to his cocky self.  It was almost good enough that he wanted to throw all of his thoughts about taking it slow overboard.

Things got a little heated at some point. Jackson had one hand in Danny’s hair and kept biting Danny’s bottom lip. Danny’s hands were trailing up and down Jackson’s sides. They were both a little reluctant to pull away from each other but eventually they were at the point where Danny left the car. Jackson was back to being worried.

Danny sighed and shot him his best reassuring smile, “I’ll take care of myself. If anything happens, I’ll call you. I promise. Go Jackson, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He forced himself to not look back on his way to the front door. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that this was all just a dream and as soon as Jackson was away from him, he’d realize that Danny wasn’t worth the trouble. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I find it highly amusing how everyone is guessing whether or not Danny will become involved with others from the pack besides Jackson, if anyone else wants to guess, be my guest. 
> 
> I hope everyone has a good time with season 3 tonight. I don't know about you but I am excited, mostly. (Let's not talk about Erica and Jackson because I might cry and nobody wants that)


	8. Chapter 8

Once in his room after he had calmed his parents down with half-hearted excuses about Lacrosse being the reason for his injuries, he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.  He took a shower first. The warm water relaxed his sore muscles a little. Danny hadn’t even realised how tense he had been.

When he went back to his room he dropped on his bed gracelessly. For a long time he just lay there, thinking about everything, music on in the background. Now that he was back home, surrounded by familiar things, it all felt unreal. Like a dream. The pain he still felt when he moved too fast was a constant reminder that is was reality, though.

Part of him was relieved because he finally knew what was going on. Jackson kept going on and on about this being dangerous, but Danny doubted that he would be in much less danger if he was unaware. He preferred knowing about the things that might threaten him.

Another part was furious and devastated about the things Jackson had been through. He really hated himself for not being able to be there for his best friend. He could only imagine how hard it must have been, probably still was.

And it wasn’t just Jackson. Danny only got a brief run-through about everything that went down, but it seemed like everyone in the pack had been forced to withstand many traumatic experiences. It made a little more sense to him that they were sticking together as closely. Danny wondered about all of their stories but he felt like he was in no place to ask. Maybe that would change one day.

The thing between him and Jackson mostly made him excited. He knew that he wanted to try making a relationship work. The fact that Jackson wanted him back still seemed a little unbelievable. He really just wanted things to work out between them. He wondered if he could really do it. Date Jackson, while he was dating someone else. He had never had a problem with them but maybe that would change if they got closer. Danny wasn’t the jealous type. He didn’t know about the pack though. It seemed like they were okay with Jackson and him, even encouraged it, if he understood Jackson right, but who knew if they still felt like that once they saw them together.

Frankly, Danny could have needed at least a week to figure all of this out on his own. He had homework he should be doing for tomorrow but he knew that trying to concentrate on that with all the other things on his mind would be futile.

Eventually his mom called him down for dinner. His parents were worried that much was obvious and Danny promised that a weekend like this wouldn’t happen again and that the injuries really were worse than they looked. His mother just gave him a sad smile and told him that he could always tell them everything. Danny felt like the worst son in the world.

Once he was back in his room he went to bed. His head hurt again and he knew that if he wanted to make it through school tomorrow he needed to get as much sleep as possible.  He wrote Jackson a quick text telling him that everything was fine and texted a few friends who had tried to reach him all weekend. After a few hours of tossing and turning, kicking the covers off and pulling them back over himself Danny gave up.

He spent a few hours researching everything that he could find about werewolf. Most of it didn’t match up with what Jackson and the pack had told him, so he disregarded it immediately. Tons of information came from Twilight and weird teen novels. Some of it was porn. Danny decided to forget about that immediately.

Eventually he tried sleeping again. He managed about two hours of peaceful sleeping before he was startled out of his sleep. His heart was beating rapidly and he felt frightened. It took him a second to realise that he had a nightmare but soon the pictures came back. The woman’s cruel smile, being beaten up, again and again, Jackson dying. He was shaking hard and he struggled to keep breathing evenly. He felt absolutely terrified.

Without thinking much he dialled Jackson’s number. After a few rings Jackson picked up.

“Hmmm? Danny? Are you alright?”

“I…I’m sorry I woke you up. I just had a nightmare and I just really need someone to talk to,” his voice was still shaking but Danny tried to calm himself.

“It’s okay. I’m glad you called. Do you need me to come over?”

Danny shook his head before realising that Jackson wouldn’t be able to see that, “No. I just need someone to talk to for a while if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t. Hang on, I just need to go to another room. Boyd’s here, I don’t want to wake him.”

The line stayed silent for a while before Jackson told him to continue talking.

Danny told him about his dream. Jackson’s response was to promise him that he’d never let anyone hurt him again. Danny knew that Jackson couldn’t always be there to protect him but it was still nice to hear. Afterwards they talked about everything that came to their minds, nothing deep. It helped to relax him enough that eventually he felt like he’s be able to sleep again.

Jackson promised that he would pick him up in the morning for school since Danny would have a problem with driving if the way his wrist still hurt was any indication.

Danny went back to bed to get at least a few hours of sleep.

*

Monday went surprisingly well. As promised, Jackson picked him up in the morning. Boyd was sitting in the back seat but he smiled at Danny and asked him how he felt. He still smiled after Jackson had leaned over to kiss Danny quickly.

If they weren’t in class Jackson was glued to his side, either alone or accompanied by another pack member. Lydia, Scott and Isaac seemed to be the most comfortable with everything. Stiles, Allison and Boyd didn’t seem to mind either but weren’t as enthusiastic as the rest. Erica he only saw at lunch when Jackson dragged him over to eat with them. She wasn’t hostile but Danny couldn’t shake off the feeling that she wasn’t too happy about Jackson and him. Danny couldn’t begrudge her for that. He wasn’t sure if he would have been able to share Jackson with anyone all of the sudden if their roles were reversed.

Jackson was mostly back to his usual self. He was a little clingy but Danny assumed that it was because they were still new and Jackson wanted to protect him. He glared at anyone who looked at them the wrong way and was all in all trying to make up for showing emotions the weekend. Basically he was back to being the sarcastic, smug bastard Danny fell in love with. He was still nice to Danny but it felt closer to normal. To Danny it was a relief. It was a sign that things might just work out okay for them.

His teachers weren’t thrilled about him not having homework but apparently looking like someone had beaten you up helped a lot when it came to making them more forgiving. Finstock wasn’t happy either when Danny told him that he wouldn’t be able to play Lacrosse for a few weeks but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Instead he ordered Danny to still show up.

Mrs McCall had told him that he would have to wait at least three weeks until he could even consider playing again so Danny made a mental note to bring homework or something else to entertain himself during practice. Even he would get bored with Lacrosse eventually.

A year ago Stiles might have kept him company on the bench but he had gotten good at Lacrosse lately. Danny assumed that all the training with werewolves had paid off.

After practice Jackson drove him back home. It all felt normal. A few days ago he had been kidnapped and had his whole world view destroyed and aside from the fact that he was trying out dating Jackson nothing had changed. Danny didn’t know what he’d expected.

*

The next week went pretty similar. Danny was still surprised how not different his life was. In school people gave him and Jackson a few curious looks but it seemed like they had grown immune to Jackson Whittemore kissing different people all the time.

Jackson slowly relaxed a little around him. He wasn’t as protective anymore and he was willing to let Danny out of sight now. Danny was glad. If Jackson had continued doing this he would have grown tired of it really quickly.

The rest of the pack seemed willing to include him into their group during school. Or to include him more. Danny had always spent time around them due to his friendship with Jackson, just not as much as he did now. And well, they were more affectionate with each other now since they didn’t have to hide anything from him anymore.

Jackson and him spent a few afternoons after school together. That wasn’t too different either. Occasionally they made out but most of the time they just played video games, watched TV and talked. Somehow the whole progression of their relationship felt natural. If something felt awkward they usually just laughed it off.

They didn’tdo more than heavy making out though. Danny wanted to and he knew that Jackson felt the same if the way he had to control himself to not wolf out was any indication but they had decided to take things slow. Jackson seemed determined to keep to their resolution.

Danny might feel a little frustrated but he knew it was for the better. Sex with Jackson was tempting, but he also knew that good sex had a tendency to cloud his judgement. Three weeks without sex and Lacrosse were a guarantee for lots of frustration but he hoped it would be worth it.

And well, he certainly wouldn’t live with the fact that he was less mature than Jackson. That was just too weird for him to comprehend. Werewolves and crazy hunters he could manage but that was a thing he could not. In fact he had always been proud of the fact that he was the more level-headed one in their relationship.

For a while Danny was certain that it would work out. The nightmares didn’t disappear but he either called Jackson or had him in his bed anyway. It was good.  Danny wasn’t too worried about the fact that they would work it out.

*

The first thing that tipped him off that maybe he had been a little too optimistic was a conversation with Lydia. She just appeared beside him on the bench at Lacrosse practice one day.

“Get up! We’re gonna go for walk.”

“I can’t? Coach’s gonna have my head.”

She laughed. “As if he cares. Now come on!”

Danny knew better than to argue with her. He saw Jackson watch them with a concerned expression on his face when they left towards the woods but he didn’t try to hold them back.

“What…,” Danny started but Lydia shot him a forceful look.

“Not yet, they can still hear us.”

They walked in silence. Lydia looked like she would have preferred other surroundings to have this conversation. Danny could only imagine that walking through the woods in heels might be uncomfortable.

Eventually she stopped. “This should be far enough. If none of them were stupid enough to follow us, we should have some privacy.”

“I don’t think they want to risk your anger.”

Lydia’s features turned into a smug expression. “You got that right. But,” she sighed and her face turned serious, “I fear we’re not here for idle chit-chat.”

Danny swallowed the feeling of nervousness. This was just Lydia. It would be okay.

“Sure,” he said trying to sound casual, “What do you want to talk about?”

“You’re taking this too well.”

What?

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Are you saying that I should be freaking out more?”

“Exactly. You should be freaked out and more importantly , you should be angry. You’re being too nice towards Jackson.”

“Wait a second. He’s your boyfriend, why would you want me to treat him like shit?”

Lydia rolled her eyes and fixed her gaze on him an expression of annoyance, “That’s not what I’m saying. “

“Then what are you saying?”

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way but when I first figured all this out I was furious. I cursed everyone who had thought keeping me in the dark was the right thing to do. Jackson, Allison, Scott, Stiles even Derek, Isaac, Erica and Boyd even though I barely had anything to do with them. I felt so left out and I never understood why I should just accept that secrets were being kept from me for the sake of my protection. I always felt that, if that many people I cared about were included in this stuff than I should be too. And you just accepted everything. It worries me because I know you. You’re one of the nicest people in this town but you wouldn’t normally let someone treat you like this.”

Danny was speechless. He had honestly no idea how to respond.

“Well that was your reaction. Maybe I’m just taking this all in differently?”

“Then you’re taking it in wrong. Now please explain to me why you’re not even a little bit angry.”

He had to stop for a second to actually think about the question before he answered hesitantly, “I was angry. Before the kidnapping incident. I don’t know if Isaac told you but I might have yelled at him a little when he told me to take care of myself. I was so mad at Jackson for distancing himself from me and keeping secrets. But then I figured out the truth and he seemed so distressed about it all? I kinda understood his reasoning even if I don’t agree. And then he told me about the whole Kanima thing and it felt more important to take care of him and to reassure him I wouldn’t leave, I guess.”

“So, what you’re saying is that you never really confronted him about his shitty behaviour because it never came up?”

“Apparently? And I mean it is understandable in a way.”

“Understandable enough that it makes it okay that you nearly died? That might not have happened if you had known. Good intentions aside, I think it should be taken a little more into account.”

Now, that caught his attention. If he had known that there was something going on he might have been able to protect himself, to be more careful. He couldn’t really deny that. But still, he wasn’t sure what Lydia’s getting at right now.

“So, what exactly are you trying to tell me here?”

“That you should let it all out, as soon as he acts like a douche bag, and he will, that’s something I will always be sure of. You two need to work through this, he needs to at least feel a little guilty because otherwise he won’t get that it wasn’t okay and you need to speak up for yourself. You usually don’t have a problem with that but I’m guessing all the making out and the feelings have made you a little soft. It’s still Jackson, he can take it.”

“Okay, okay. It makes some kind of sense, I guess. I still don’t get why you’re doing this?”

Lydia smirked, “You don’t believe in the goodness of my heart, do you Danny? Here’s the thing, you’re both at the point in a relationship were everything is perfect, rainbows and sunshine. That’s nice, enjoy it while it lasts. I just fear that once you realise how deep you are into this it might be too late. I know you claim to know what you’re getting into but let me tell you, you don’t. You are not aware that no matter how hard you try, this might cost the people you care about or you, their life. I’m doing this for you because I want you to become more aware of what you’re getting into. And I’m doing this for him because he can’t lose you because you wake up one day and decided this isn’t what you want all of the sudden. I’m just telling you, think about what you’re feeling, if it’s worth the idea of losing everything and stop being so damn nice to him if he acts like an asshole again. For your own and for his sake. That’s all I have to say right now.”

“Okay, okay. I heard your opinion, I’ll think about it. Can we go back now?”

Lydia rolled her eyes and Danny knew that this wasn’t what she wanted to hear from him but it seemed like she would accept it for now since she started walking towards the direction of the school again.

While they walked Danny had time to think about her words. Maybe he was getting ahead of himself. The fact that everything seemed perfect at the start of a new relationship seemed normal enough, however in a normal relationship the consequences of that period coming to an end were a little less serious. In the worst case people realised that they didn’t fit together as well as they thought and broke it off again. In Danny’s case he might already be too deep into whatever supernatural crap was going on. Danny really didn’t want to be the guy who abandoned someone he cared about in order to save his own ass but maybe she did have a point. He needed to be sure that Jackson and him would still work if things got tough. He had always had Jackson’s back so maybe he had been blinded by that a little. He should pay a little more attention towards everything. After all, they were technically not yet sure they would do this. He should try to figure out if he wanted this as much as he originally thought he did.

When they arrived back at the field Jackson was giving the two of them curious looks but Lydia ignored him in favour of walking over towards Scott who was already on the way to the locker room.

Jackson was at Danny’s side faster than he could look.

The look on his face was one of curious irritation when he spoke up, “What did Lydia want?”

For a second Danny contemplated telling Jackson the truth but then he realised that he would much rather see how Jackson reacted if Danny ever confronted him without him being aware that Lydia was the one who brought it to Danny’s attention.

“Nothing you need to worry about. We just had a nice little talk. You should go change. If you drive me home I might consider asking you if you want to come up to my room.”

Jackson didn’t seem satisfied with his answer but he didn’t push for further information. Instead he smirked and said, “Well, with an offer this tempting how could I refuse.”

He left towards the locker room as well while Danny collected his things he had left on the bench. Maybe Lydia was overreacting and they might still work this out on their own. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much happens here, I know. We're getting there. 
> 
> Maybe I will go on a childish boycott of the new season if I have to see Erica die, but that will only concern my mental health and not this story so you don't need to be worried. (But God, I am so scared about tonight)


	9. Chapter 9

Despite Lydia’s words still on his mind everything went on as usual for a while. He felt more and more comfortable around Jackson and soon it took both of them a lot of self control so they wouldn’t go further than making out during their ‘test-phase’.

He did try to be a little more aware of Jackson’s behaviour and of his own feelings  but apart from the usual bickering and teasing that they always had going on they got along well enough that Danny become more and more confident in their relationship.

He also forced the pack to tell them as many stories as possible. Lydia had been right, he wasn’t yet sure what he was getting himself into. So he tried to learn, and if the nightmares about the hunters he still suffered from more or less frequently weren’t enough of a reminder that they were never completely save all the talk about hunters, witches and other creatures that should only exist on Supernatural was enough to make him aware of it.

Jackson seemed uncomfortable whenever Danny asked for more details but he let Danny be. Good for him because Danny totally had the right to know about this.

He thought about all this, once again, when he was doing grocery shopping. His wrist was healed luckily so he could drive again and his ribs were on the best way of being okay again, too. Danny was glad, he missed Lacrosse. He also really wanted Jackson to not be so careful with him when they were kissing because Danny didn’t appreciate being treated like he was fragile. Especially not by his best friend/boyfriend who happened to be a werewolf with super strength.

He was loading everything up into his car when he noticed her. A girl, not older than fourteen was staring at him from across the parking lot. She looked absolutely wrecked. Dirty clothes, dirty hair and she seemed terrified.

Unsure of what to do, Danny shot her a small smile, waiting for a reaction. It startled her but after a few seconds she moved into his direction. Danny didn’t exactly feel threatened by her but his instinct told him to be careful to not scare her away.

“Excuse me?” her voice was thin and Danny had to strain his ears to understand her. “I just, I noticed, please…you wouldn’t happen to know any werewolves here? Maybe?”

Danny only hesitated for a second but it was enough to upset her, “Of course not, I’m sorry. I’m not thinking right, just forget I said anything.”

She turned to run away.

“Hey no. Stop,” he managed to catch her wrist. “I might be able to help you, actually.”

She gave him a calculating look before she started pleading again, “You’re not a wolf but you smell like them. A pack. Please tell me there’s a pack here. I need help.”

“Shhh, it’s okay. Calm down. Why don’t you tell me your name first?”

“Lisa, it is Lisa. My pack, we were being attacked and got separated.”

Oh, of course she’s a werewolf. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to smell the pack on her. She looked so young.

“Alright, Lisa. How old are you?”

“Thirteen. I’ve been on the run for three weeks. I need somewhere to stay. Just for the full moon. Please, if there’s someone who can help me can you bring me to them?”

She seemed harmless enough. It was evident that she was desperate but it didn’t feel like a trap. Danny got the impression that she was telling the truth. He had no idea how he was supposed to react. He wanted to help her badly but could he risk introducing her to the pack?

“So you are completely alone?” he asked her carefully.

“Yes, I have no one. I’m searching for my pack, but I need to stay somewhere for a few days. Please.”

“Okay, okay. I can bring you to the alpha. Don’t worry, they are good people. Get in the car. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“Thank you, thank you. You have no idea how important this is to me.”

“It’s okay. Come on.”

Danny decided to bring her straight to Derek. She wasn’t a threat if she was telling the truth and was alone.  He also had the feeling that Derek might be better equipped to handle this situation than Jackson.  He sent Derek a quick text explaining the situation. Jackson had typed everyone’s number into Danny’s phone a few days ago. Just in case something happened and he couldn’t reach Jackson.

The drive to the house was tense. Lisa was trembling in the seat beside him. She was tapping her fingers against the dashboard and it drove Danny mad.

“Hey, come on. Listen, the pack here, they are my friends. They’ll help you, I promise. You don’t need to be scared.”

She nodded but Danny could still sense her discomfort. He hoped they would be able to help her.

When they arrived at the house Derek was out on the porch, waiting for them. Lisa tensed up beside him.

Danny tried to give her a reassuring smile, “Just tell him what you told me. He won’t hurt you.”

“Do you trust him? And his pack?”

“Of course, they saved my life once. Now come on, we’ll get this sorted out.”

Danny soon figured out that his decision to bring her to Derek had been the right one. As soon as he’d seen the state the werewolf girl was in he had rushed to their side to take a closer look at her. Danny had half expected Derek to try to intimidate her to figure out whether she was a threat or not but all he did was talk to her carefully. He asked a few questions about what happened to her which she answered carefully before leading her inside. She looked at Danny for reassurance before she followed Derek and he smiled at her.

“You’re not leaving now, are you?” she asked and Danny shook his head before following her inside. He didn’t want to freak her out by leaving her alone with Derek. Danny knew that he was harmless but she didn’t at the moment.

Once inside the house Derek told both of them to go into the living room while he disappeared into the kitchen. Danny sat down on the couch and once he told her that it would be okay, Lisa did the same. She was eying her surrounding with suspicion but at least she didn’t seem to be outright terrified.

A few minutes later, Danny had been talking with Lisa about how he knew the pack, Derek came back into the room. With sandwiches and a glass of water for Lisa and the promise that the rest of the pack would be here soon and that they would find a solution.

“You can stay here for the full moon, we’ll make sure you’re staying in control. Then we’ll work on finding your pack. Don’t worry, we have found other packs before.”

“Thank you. I was so terrified that I would have to handle the full moon alone. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I have no idea how I’m supposed to repay this, ever.”

Derek sat down on the armchair across from her, “Hey, this is no problem. We’re glad if we can help. And it helps us, too if you don’t hurt anyone. You really don’t owe us anything. I hope we’ll find your pack. Now eat, drink. You’ll need your strength tomorrow night.”

Danny was melting a little. Who would have guessed that Derek could be that gentle and caring?

Lisa started eating hesitantly.

“Danny, you’re hungry too?” Derek asked.

“No, I’m fine, thanks,” he responded.

A few minutes later Boyd and Allison arrived. It seemed to relax Lisa to have another female in the room. Stiles, Lydia, Erica and Scott pulled up in front of the house shortly after. Derek told them about the situation and soon Lydia and Stiles were writing down everything Lisa had to tell them, while Allison did her best to reassure her. They were all being sweet with her and Danny was glad that he had made the right decision.

Jackson and Isaac were the last to get to the house.

“What’s going on? Danny what are you doing here?” Jackson asked upon entering the room. He glared at Lisa, who was still sitting beside Danny.

“Everything’s fine. This is Lisa, she’s a werewolf and lost her pack. She approached me in the parking lot and I brought her to the house, so you could help her,” Danny explained.

“You what? Are you out of your fucking mind?” Jackson yelled loudly, while he walked over to the couch in a confident stride. Lisa whined beside him and shifted away from Jackson until she was nearly sitting on Allison’s lap.

“Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. You’re scaring our guest, and Danny did the right thing. There’s no reason to make such a scene,” Derek jumped in. He moved behind Jackson, wrapped one arm around his waist and dragged him back until there were a few feet between Jackson and the couch.

“Leave me alone. I won’t hurt her. Let me go, I need to talk to Danny,” Jackson snarled while he was struggling against Derek’s grip on him.

Derek let go of him and shoved Jackson in the direction of the doorway, “Calm down, go outside. If Danny wants to talk to you, he will.”

Jackson left, but not without glaring at the room in general.

Allison was soothing Lisa who looked freaked out, while the rest looked defeated. Lydia shot him a pointed look. The told-you-so didn’t need to be said out loud.

With a sigh Danny got up from the couch.

“You know you don’t have to take this bullshit from him, right?” Stiles asked. He looked angry. Danny guessed that he had had a similar conversation one too many times.

“I know, I won’t let him do this,” Danny told him. And he wouldn’t. He might be Jackson’s boyfriend but he still had the right to do whatever he wanted.

Before he could leave the room, Derek spoke again though, “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, I guess,” he replied before following Derek into the kitchen.

Derek closed the door behind him. He appreciated the gesture, like this it at least felt like they had some privacy, even if nearly everyone in the house could hear their conversation.

“Stiles is right. You really don’t need to take this from Jackson. You did the right thing today. You saw that she needed help and you helped.” Derek looked uncomfortable leaning against the kitchen counter but his words were sincere.

“I’m glad. I wasn’t sure if it was okay. But she seemed harmless and desperate and I just wanted to help,” he avoided looking at Derek directly. Something about him made Danny too nervous. Although he preferred this conversation to the one he would have to have with Jackson in a few minutes.

“You did the right thing. I just wanted that to be clear. You trusted your instinct that she wasn’t lying to you. That’s a good thing. Jackson will tell you that you put yourself in danger and that you could put all of us in danger and he has a point with that. This life is dangerous and you can never have a guarantee but all in all you handled the situation as well as you could,” Derek told him.

“I…thanks, really. I wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate to bring her here. I don’t know most things to be honest.”

“Don’t worry, we can teach you, if you want to get involved.”

“I think I would like that. If Jackson’s being reasonable, maybe even if he’s not. I don’t think I can just turn my back on everything.”

The hint of a smile appeared on Derek’s face, “He can be reasonable, once you show him that you won’t take this from him. But I guess you know that, he’s your best friend after all. Just, don’t be too hard on him. I know the feeling of being terrified that someone you care about will be lost in all of this. You don’t want to know how often we’ve all fought with Allison and Stiles. But he needs to hear that it’s not okay from you.”

Danny returned his smile and replied, “Yeah, yeah. I will. We’ll be alright…I hope.”

Derek walked past him towards the door but he let his hand rest on Danny’s shoulder for a few seconds. “You will be, and then we need to discuss everything you need to know and how you can protect yourself.  Take care, Danny,” Derek told him before leaving the room to go back to the rest of the pack.”

“Yeah, you too,” Danny muttered weakly. He had no idea why Derek being all caring made his heart flutter. He would have to think about that some time. Never would probably be a good idea. Jackson was definitely more important at the moment even though Danny wasn’t too thrilled about that either. Mostly he was still angry.

When he went outside, Jackson was leaning casually the Porsche, his arms folded in front of his chest. He looked at Danny with a grim expression. “Good to know my boyfriends are on your side,” he balked out.

“I’m your boyfriend, too. And on your side. That doesn’t make your behaviour okay.” Danny forced himself to stay calm.

“I don’t see why it isn’t. You had no idea what you were doing. She could have killed you right there in the parking lot for admitting that you know us. You had no way of telling that she wasn’t just another hunter who set up a trap. You were risking your life because you needed to help so badly.” At the end of his speech Jackson was practically shouting at Danny.

“No. I won’t take this from you. Yes, it was a risk and yes, it might have been dangerous, but you knew that from the start. You knew that if we decided to be together I would be in danger, so now you deal with it, because I won’t leave. If I’m doing this than I have every right be get involved,” Danny was shaking from the effort it took him to not scream right back at Jackson.

“But if you are involved you need to at least be careful. And that shit, that wasn’t being careful at all, that was being stupid and reckless. Also, it’s not like I wanted to tell you about all this,” Jackson huffed and pointedly looked anywhere but at Jackson.

Danny took a calming breath, once, twice, before he spoke in a carefully stable but angry voice, “And that’s the problem isn’t it? You didn’t tell me! You thought that keeping me out of this, was the best. It wasn’t. I didn’t know anything and I still got hurt, I could have died. I knew nothing and I was still a target. So frankly, I prefer knowing and being able to defend myself. And you won’t take that away from me, even if you thought I wasn’t important enough to be let in on your little secret.”

“I…that’s not it,” Jackson hesitated for a second before he continued speaking, “I tried to protect you, by not telling you. I failed and if for one second you think that I don’t regret this every second than you don’t know anything. Why can’t you see that I’m trying here? I can’t do this, if I can’t be sure you’re not doing reckless shit.”

“But I wasn’t!” Danny exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in frustration, “I was thrown into a complicated situation and I trusted my instinct that I was doing the right thing. What else was I supposed to do? Leave a terrified thirteen year old, who needs someone to look after her during the full moon so she won’t hurt anyone, alone?”

“äYou weren’t supposed to do this at all,” Jackson said grimly and Danny sighed in frustration. He felt like they were not getting anywhere here.

“I am and we’ll have to deal with this, if we want to make this work.”

Jackson looked at his feet and stayed silent and Danny felt his anger slowly ebbing away.

“Except if you don’t want this to work?” he asked.

“Maybe it would be better if we weren’t together,” Jackson kept his gaze locked on the ground but his voice didn’t shake. He seemed to mean every word.

“Right. Okay. I guess, I’ll just leave then,” he forced out, fighting the overwhelming disappointment that slowly took over his whole emotional range. If Jackson didn’t want him here, then what was he still doing here?

He walked towards his car, ignored Jackson calling his name behind him and drove home. He went straight to his room, shut the door behind him, turned on some terrible, loud and obnoxious pop music and shut out everything for a while, just lying on his bed glaring at the ceiling.

His phone rang a few times but he ignored it. Eventually he started doing homework. Or tried to anyway. He couldn’t focus on the words in front of him. His thoughts kept drifting back to the afternoon.

He couldn’t believe that Jackson had just changed his mind about everything. He seemed to have meant it when he said that he wanted them to back together. Apparently not enough that he would stick around when times got tough. Danny knew from years of watching how Jackson was in relationships. He was stubborn and had the tendency to fight with his partners, but if he cared enough about the relationships he was usually willing to find a compromise. Which led Danny to the conclusion that Jackson wasn’t as invested in this as he was.

He hadn’t gotten that impression during the last few weeks but maybe that had been because he didn’t want to see it. What could he offer Jackson? Nothing he couldn’t get from anyone else in the pack. Sure, they were best friends and they both had feelings for the other but was that enough to base a relationship on it? It seemed like Jackson didn’t think so.

Danny spent hours just lying on his bed and feeling sorry for himself but eventually he did fall asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Opps? Don't worry too much.


	10. Chapter 10

When he woke up the first thing he realized was that he was too hot for comfort and that there was a heavy weight draped over his chest. When he opened his eyes he saw Jackson, asleep, with his head pillowed on Danny’s chest, both of his arms wrapped around his torso and one of Jackson’s legs between Danny’s. It was comfortable. It was also really confusing.

Even half-awake Danny knew that they had been fighting yesterday, maybe even broke up? He wasn’t sure, yet. Apparently all of that didn’t stop Jackson from using Danny as his personal pillow.

A quick glance at the clock on his nightstand told Danny that they still had about an hour until they had to get ready for school. He knew he should have woken Jackson up to talk right at the moment but he decided to enjoy the easy silence a little longer. Like this he could at least pretend that things were alright between them. Reality could wait a little bit longer.

Who knew what Jackson had to say when he woke up? If they were breaking up Danny wanted to at least enjoy this moment while it lasted.

God! What the fuck was wrong with him? If any other guy had dared treating him like this he would have kicked him out of his bed faster than he could even try to explain himself.

But that was the problem, wasn’t it? Jackson wasn’t just anyone. He wasn’t just his boyfriend, he was also his best friend and that made it nearly impossible for Danny to not want him around. He had never let Jackson just get away with acting like a heartless bastard but he had also never abandoned him.

Danny sighed. He really needed to know what Jackson wanted; and he needed Jackson to know that this could only work if Jackson was willing to let Danny be included in whatever was going on. He didn’t want to go out and risk his life by being reckless, but he also didn’t want to just sit back and have no idea about what was going on while the rest of the pack was out risking their lives.

Jackson stirred on top of him and Danny tried to look as displeased with the situation as he could. If Jackson was here to apologise Danny wouldn’t make it easy for him, if he wasn’t he would make this hell for Jackson no matter how much he might dread the thought that they might not continue their relationship. Danny had his pride.

“What are you doing here, Jackson?” he asked, trying to sound indifferent.

Jackson blinked a few times in confusion before he slowly moved until he was sitting beside on Danny’s bed instead of lying on his chest. Danny took the opportunity to move himself into a sitting position as well.

“Well?” Danny asked again when Jackson did nothing but look at Danny sleepily.

“Ah, I might have been a complete idiot yesterday?”

“And?”

“And I am really, really sorry. I was being an asshole.”

“Yeah, but I’m used to that. What I’m not used to is you being hurtful towards me on purpose. If you don’t want this you could have said that sooner,” Danny knew that he sounded pissed but he wasn’t in the mood to try being nice.

Jackson took a deep breath before he started talking, “No, god no. Never, Danny. You should know I didn’t mean it like that, I just panicked and thought that maybe if you believed that I didn’t want this, us, as much as I do you would turn your back on all of this crazy shit and walk away. Live a nice normal life, without having to worry about all this supernatural craziness. I know it was a stupid idea, believe me, Scott already made me see that in great detail. I get if you’re angry and you have every right to be, but if you could consider giving me a second chance I would be so, so grateful for that.”

Danny was stunned.  He hadn’t completely given up on the possibility that Jackson might still want this, but he had expected that if Jackson still wanted this it would involve a lot more being stubborn on his part until Jackson even acknowledged that he had been wrong.

“Say something, Danny, please,” Jackson pleaded. The look he directed at Danny was so desperate that it made something ache inside chest. It knocked all the anger right out of him. All he wanted to do was to drag Jackson into his arms and kiss him senseless, but he knew that they needed to talk about this.

“I’m more than willing to give you a second chance,” he said and Jackson‘s shoulders slumped in relief.

“But,” Danny continued, “Only if something like yesterday doesn’t happen again. You need to understand that being involved is my own decision and that you can’t take that away from me. I get that that means I won’t ever be one hundred percent safe, but let’s face it, I wasn’t safe even when we were only friends and I had no idea what was going on.  You can’t just take my decisions away from me. I won’t go out there and risk my life, that’s not what this is about, but I want to learn, I want to be prepared. I can’t just go back to not knowing what’s out there. That’s not how this works and it never will.”

“I know. I was just so fucking scared. It seemed like the best solution yesterday.”

“It hurt. It hurt a lot. I thought you didn’t want me around anymore. I thought I had misinterpreted your intentions and your feelings for me. I knew that this wouldn’t be easy and I’m willing to look over many things, but if you ever make me feel like you don’t want to be with me again I’m out. Understood?”

“Yes, of course. That was a dick move. I’m really, really sorry,” Jackson hurried to reassure him. His fingers kept twitching like he had to force himself to not reach out and touch Danny.

Danny sighed and fisted his hand into Jackson’s shirt to pull him closer. Their mouths were nearly touching and whispered, “You’re forgiven. Just know to not do this again. We can talk about everything, but I don’t want to fight anymore. Now come here and kiss me.”

Jackson smiled before he leaned forward a little until their lips were finally touching. It started out sweet, just the simple press of lips against each other and both of them smiling into it but soon Jackson was biting at Danny’s bottom lip gently until Danny opened his mouth for him. The wet slide of their tongues against each other sent shocks of pleasure right to Danny’s groin and made him moan into the kiss.

Jackson pressed against him until Danny had no other chance but to let himself fall back against the pillows, with Jackson following until he was lying between Danny’s spread legs.

“This okay?” Jackson asked and Danny nodded before leaning forward and kissing Jackson again. It didn’t take long until they were both bucking up their hips to get some kind of friction. Danny was hard and he could feel that Jackson was, too. The last few weeks they had both tried to control themselves, to not do this too soon, but right now with Jackson this close and obviously aroused Danny couldn’t think about a single reason why this might be a bad idea.

Apparently Jackson felt the same because he took of his own shirt before Danny could even try to do so. He wasn’t too bumped about it though, since the reward was a half-naked Jackson.  Danny took a sharp intake of breath at the sight. It was totally unfair that Jackson was this hot.

“It seems like I’m your type after all,” Jackson teased him.

“Oh, shut up. That was ages ago, people grow up,” Danny responded, trying to sound annoyed. It wasn’t too hard since he would prefer it if there would be less talking and more getting off at the moment.

“If you say so,” Jackson grinned down at him. “Now come on, take your shirt off, we don’t have all day.”

Danny did as he was told, leaning forward a little so that he could remove his shirt. As soon as he had taken it off and tossed it carelessly on the floor, Jackson was leaning back against him, kissing his way down Danny’s neck until he reached his collar bone. Danny was pretty sure that just this shouldn’t have him as turned on as he was at the moment.

“Fucking hell, Jackson. Stop teasing,” Danny gritted out, trying to not buck his hips up against Jackson’s thigh. Jackson only gave him a smug grin before he moved his hand down Danny’s body until he could press his flat palm against Danny’s straining erection that was still trapped inside his boxer briefs.

“God, Danny. You have no idea what you’re doing to me, do you?”

“Yeah? Show me then,” Danny told him, trying to not let it show how desperately turned on he was.

Jackson shot him another sly grin before he pulled down Danny’s boxer briefs and his own. Danny would have liked to appreciate this moment a little more, their first time being completely naked together, but Jackson had already pressed his own, hard cock against Danny’s. He played with the head of Danny’s cock for a few seconds, spreading the pre come that had already gathered there around, before he wrapped his hand around both of their cocks in a firm grip.

Both of them moaned at the same time at the feeling and while Jackson moved his hand and started stroking them both, Danny captured Jackson’s lips in another passionate kiss. They were both too riled up to attempt precise and good kissing so they were mostly crashing their lips together and occasionally letting their tongues brush against each other. They were also both moving their hips up in synch with Jackson’s strokes.

It didn’t take long before Danny felt the familiar tension building up in the pit of his stomach that told him that it didn’t take much more to make him come.

“Shit, Danny. You have no idea how much I wanted this. You smell so fucking good right now,” Jackson gasped out before he sped up his strokes a little more. Before Danny could even comprehend what was happening Jackson (human) teeth were biting into his neck. The additional pain has him blowing his load and while releasing a chocked up moan Jackson followed him.

Jackson collapsed on top of him, nuzzling Danny’s neck and smearing his come covered hand over Danny’s stomach.

“I feel like I should be offended that you’re rubbing that all over me, but something tells me that this might be a werewolf thing,” Danny said after a few minutes of enjoying the afterglow.

He felt Jackson smirk against his neck, but got no answer otherwise. Oh well, Danny might have to ask about these things again at a later point.

“So, you said that Scott was the one who that talked some sense in you?” Jackson nodded. “Well, I guess I should thank him later then.”

It was meant as a joke but Jackson moved until his face wasn’t hidden against Danny’s neck anymore, so that they were face to face again.

“He knows how it is. Stiles is his best friend after all, and him and Allison were dating before all of us were dating, so he understands how terrifying it can be. But well, Stiles and Allison, they never took these conversations well either. There was this one time,” Jackson’s voice was shaking a little when he continued, “there was this other pack and they thought that, since we were all still really young and most of us were fairly new to this whole werewolf thing, they could take us out and take over Beacon Hills. We weren’t as weak as they believed so we managed to chase them away, but the fight was brutal. Stiles, someone attacked him, and he was bleeding so much we thought we had lost him. Allison wasn’t much better. She had a broken arm and so many bruises that she was in pain for weeks. We all just kind of lost it and after everything had calmed down, we confronted them and told them to stay out of it from now on. They didn’t appreciate it. We didn’t talk for weeks. None of us. We almost broke up over it. All the wolves in the pack had to learn that we can’t order them around and that we need to trust that they can take care of themselves. I think I just need to do the same with you, again. I’m sorry for my behaviour yesterday.”

Danny needed a few seconds to take it all in. He thought he remembered what Jackson was referring to. Both, Stiles and Allison hadn’t been in school for weeks and Jackson had been avoiding everyone from the pack. Him and Danny had spent a lot of time together, but Jackson had been miserable the entire time. Danny remembered trying to cheer him up by getting him drunk. It hadn’t worked out as he had intended, but at least Jackson had been amused by Danny being wasted.

He still wasn’t sure how to respond so he moved one of his hands into Jackson’s hair and started moving his hand in what he hoped was a soothing motion. Jackson let his head rest on Danny’s chest again and relaxed into the touch so Danny guessed that he was doing something right.

Eventually, he settled for saying, “We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

They enjoyed the silence for a while. Danny knew their problems wouldn’t just disappear, because they were willing to work on them, but at least it was a step into the right direction. He felt content enough with that knowledge.

Danny was close to falling back asleep, when Jackson muttered from his place on top of him, “Danny?”

“Hmmm?”

“We’ll be late for school if we don’t get up right now and take a shower.”

“Uhh, if we have to. Come on, come on. I guess you won’t mind showering together?”

Jackson grinned at him, “Not at all.”

They both got up slowly. Danny couldn’t really stop himself from staring at Jackson, because a naked, sweaty Jackson with sex-hair was definitely a sight be behold. He grinned even wider when he realised that Jackson kept looking at him, too.

They took a shower, both put on some of Danny’s clothes and headed to school. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few things to say about this chapter. 
> 
> 1) I know that they made up really quickly and that some of you might argue that Jackson isn't like that, but I'd like to believe that the pack already had a positive influence on him, so that his ways of handling difficult situations might have improved. 
> 
> 2) I can't write smut. I apologize. 
> 
> 3) I plan on writing their nearly-break-up at some point in the future, because I always wanted to focus on Allison's and Stiles' places in the pack, as the only humans. One day, hopefully. 
> 
> 4) Next chapter will be Allison, Stiles and Danny bonding. 
> 
> 5) I will be on a vacation with my friends for the next week. One week of the ocean, beach, parties and cocktails. It might delay updates a little, but I'll do my best. 
> 
> 6) So much love to everyone who's still with me on this. It means the world to me. I love you all so much.


	11. Chapter 11

On the drive to school they  both couldn’t stop themselves from smiling constantly.

“Wow, if I would have known that mutual hand jobs would make both of us this happy, I would have tried for that a lot sooner,” Jackson stated and Danny laughed.

“It was worse for me than it was for you. At least you had others to have sex with,” Danny stated.

Jackson shot him a curious glance. “What?” Danny asked.

“You say it like it’s not really bugging you. You don’t think it’s weird at all?” The concern in his voice was obvious, but Danny got the impression that it was also relief that Jackson felt.

“No, not really. I mean, it was a little frustrating, but that had nothing to do with you being with other people . At least not these people. I knew what I was getting myself into, and I’m okay with it.”

Danny was surprised to notice that he wasn’t just saying this to ease Jackson’s mind, but that it was also the simple truth. He had seen the effect they had on Jackson and he only now truly realised how important they really were to each other. He couldn’t even imagine taking that away from his best friend.

They spent the rest of the drive to school in silence, both still grinning like idiots.

As soon as they got out of Danny’s car, both Lydia and Boyd sent them amused grins. Danny would have shrugged it off as them being glad him and Jackson made up, but when they walked into the school building Scott looked into their direction, smiled, leaned over towards Allison and Stiles, told them something and then all three of them grinned at them, too. Erica cat-called when she passed them, while Isaac at least had the decency to try to hide his smirk.

“They can smell that we hooked up, can’t they?” Danny asked dryly.

“Yep,” Jackson responded.

“You’re totally enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, just checking. I’ll try to ignore the weirdness of this.” Jackson sent another smug grin his way and then their school day was starting.

Danny was the first one to arrive at their table during lunch, so he started to eat his food while going over his notes for Chemistry again. He jumped in a little in shock when both Allison and Stiles slid into the chairs beside him.

They were both grinning at him.

“Uh hi? Are you here to make jokes about the fact that Jackson and I hooked up? Because you’re faces are scaring me a little right now.”

“Well, as fun as that sounds, I fear we might have to do that at a later point. Right now we have something else we wanted to ask you,” Stiles explained, stupid grin still firmly on his face.

“Alright. Well, go ahead then,” Danny told them. He was curious to hear what these two had to say.

It was Allison, who talked next, “Since tonight’s the full moon and we currently have a young werewolf on our hands, who can’t control herself really well, that means that Stiles and I won’t be staying with the rest of the pack tonight. We figured we would just spend some time alone, but then we thought that maybe you would like to talk? I know you must still have so many questions. And we figured, since Stiles and I know how dating a werewolf can be, that maybe we could try to answer a few of them, if you want to.”

Danny considered the proposition for a second. Stiles and Allison had much knowledge about all the supernatural stuff, but they also knew about the problems that came up in relationships between humans and werewolves so they were actually they perfect people to talk to. And while he didn’t know Allison that well, and he had never been a big fan of Stiles, he figured it couldn’t hurt to get to know them better. If him and Jackson would continue their relationship, and Danny really hoped that they would, the pack would become a big part of his life, too. It was actually a really good idea.

“Yeah, I would like to, thank you for the offer,” Danny replied and was rewarded by Allison giving him a happy, sincere smile and Stiles clapping him on the back.

“That’s settled then. Come to my house at 8, bring alcohol. We’ll deal with the more serious topics while getting drunk, and when we’re actually wasted you can ask all the intimate things you’ve been wondering about. How does that sound, Danny-boy?”

“Terrifying, but also, not too bad. I’ll be there,” Danny promised. Soon the rest of the pack joined them. When Danny told Jackson about his plans for the night later, he only rolled his eyes and told Danny to have fun. If Jackson wasn’t concerned then Danny guessed that he had no reason to be.

Except that he felt a little nervous when he parked his car in front of the sheriff’s house. He didn’t actually know Stiles or Allison that well. He knew from the few encounters he had with Allison that she was sweet and caring, and Jackson had told him that you shouldn’t try to start shit with her, because she knew how to handle a crossbow, but that was about it. He liked Allison, but he didn’t actually know her.

He had never liked Stiles, it was as easy as that. Stiles had always been loud, obnoxious and made stupid jokes all the time. At least that was the impression that Danny had always gotten from him. He never understood why him and Scott were friends, but then again he figured that people probably thought the same about him and Jackson. When he had started to realize that Jackson was dating Stiles he had to at least try to see Stiles in a different light. It was easier now, when he knew what was going on. He had so much respect for Stiles, because he had been with Scott though all of this, while Danny hadn’t been able to do that for Jackson. And Stiles had told Danny to not listen to Jackson, when he was being unreasonable. Danny appreciated the fact that he seemed to care enough about Danny to speak up against his boyfriend.

However, all of these things didn’t change the fact the barely knew anything about Stiles and Allison, except that they were both dating a pack of werewolves. Danny was nervous that they wouldn’t get along, or that they’d hate him. They were important to Jackson, so he wanted to make a good impression, no matter how stupid that made him feel, considering that he had no real connection with them, yet.

He guessed he would just have to see how the evening went.  With that thought in mind he rang the doorbell. Allison was the one who opened the door. The smile on her face when she greeted him eased up his mind a little bit, “Danny, come on in. We’ll be in Stiles and Scott’s room, because Melissa and the sheriff will be home later. They might want their living room for themselves.”

Danny followed her upstairs. “I didn’t know Stiles and Scott’s parents lived together?”

“Oh, it’s a recent development. Melissa and Scott moved in a few months ago. It was funny actually. They wanted to for a long time, but they thought they’d have to find a new house, since this one didn’t have enough rooms and then they kinda figured out the whole relationship thing. Scott and I only requested that we get a big bed and they were fine with it,” with that explanation Stiles joined in on the question. He was sitting cross legged on said bed, which admittedly, was really big.

“And they are okay with the dating thing?” Danny asked. It was an interesting thought, he had never even considered having to explain all this to his parents.

“Yeah mostly,” Stiles started explaining, while Allison sat down on the bed and made a gesture towards Danny to do the same, “It was a little strange for all of us at first and they had to get to know the whole pack properly, but by now they’ve accepted it. And sharing a room with Scott is awesome. Although, we usually don’t spent our nights just the two of us, or with both of us here. We’re all spending too much time in each other’s beds to be honest. Yeah, you didn’t need to know that, did you?”

Danny only shrugged, “It’s fine. I got used to the thought a few months ago. You weren’t exactly subtle.” Allison and Stiles only smirked. “I brought Tequila. I figured you can never go wrong with that?”

“Perfect. That should do the job,” Stiles took the bottle from Danny and took a shot without preamble, before handing the bottle to Allison. She ignored it in favour of talking to Danny, “So, Jackson apologized for the way he acted yesterday, then? How are you feeling about all this?”

“It was a lot easier than expected, to be honest.  Although I heard that it was thanks to Scott, mostly. Well, and you guys. How did you handle it all? Jackson told me a little, but it’s not the same as hearing it from you.”

Both their expressions turned serious and they exchanged a few glances, before Allison spoke again, “It wasn’t always easy. The whole situation was probably easier for me than it was for Stiles, since at least I knew how to defend myself and how to handle different weapons. The others felt that at least I had the basic abilities to take care of myself. At this point, Stiles does too, but that wasn’t always the case. But still, we always had to fight for our right to be involved into stuff. When they thought that something was too dangerous or that we wouldn’t listen to them, they deliberately withheld information. It was done out of love, but it hurt more than anything else might have. Stiles and I, we are as invested in this as the others are, we are willing to fight and protect like they do. Not being allowed to do so, was driving us mad. We felt useless, pushed aside. They felt like it was the necessary thing to do, so we would survive. It was an issue that had been building up for months during small moments and in the end we had no idea how to get out of it. We were so close to breaking up. It was a tough time, but we made it due to sheer force of will to make it work again. The wolves tried really hard to listen to us and to find solutions that we were all comfortable with. In the end we managed to find a way.”

“How exactly? I only caught a short glimpse of the frustration, the anger and the disappointment that comes with that particular discussion. I’m not sure I could handle having it again and again.”

Stiles was the one who answered this time, not before taking another shot of Tequila, “We made them see that we didn’t want anything irrational. We didn’t want to die. We just wanted to be a part of it, to help. The thought that they were out risking their lives while we sat around doing nothing. It’s so much worse than the feeling of being in the middle of a fight, a few bruises and minor injuries. And we’re a target one way or another. That’s just something we have to deal with. We help when we can, with research and planning, and fighting skills if they are useful, and if it’s really a fight that requires nothing but brutal strength we stay out of it. As long as they contact us regularly that’s okay, too. Communication, as always, is the only way to find a solution. So we did that.”

Danny wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was impressed with those two. He couldn’t say for sure if he would have managed to stick around through all of that. “Wow, it sounds like you’ve really come a long way. I know that getting Jackson to talk about things can be frustrating.” Then in an afterthought he added, “He’s changed a lot. He’s less angry. More likely to show his feelings. You’re good for him. I’m really glad that he had all of you during the last few years.”

Allison gave him a soft smile, “We’re glad to have him, too. You seem to be adapting to all of this so well, Danny. I’m impressed. Though sometimes I wonder if you’re really okay with sharing him.”

Danny shrugged and returned her smile, “I got used to the idea months ago. I saw that you were together. It was weird, but he seemed happy. If it’s good for him, I could never take that away from him. It’s Jackson. I’m willing to endure a lot of weird for him, if it means keeping him at my side.”

Stiles grinned. “I know that feeling all too well. Scott is basically a magnet for all the weird stuff.” And these words started the whole story of the Stilinski-McCall-bromance-that-turned-into-romance. (Stiles’ words, not his.). It started somewhere in kindergarten, got way more interesting when Scott got bitten, hilarious when Stiles told him about the things that had happened between serious threats. Apparently a group of witches only messed with their heads a little for a while. Danny made a mental note to ask Jackson about that at some time. And finally a little romantic when Stiles talked about how they had all found their way together.

“It’s all of them, sure. There’s no one I love more or less, just differently. And Scott, he will always be my best friend, my soul mate, the one who knows me best, no matter what else is going on.”

Half of the bottle was empty at this point, which might have been the only reason why Danny smiled dreamily at something Stiles Stilinski said. He hoped that him and Jackson would always be like that. He couldn’t imagine being without Jackson, no matter what scenario they were in.

Their peaceful silence was interrupted by a knock on the door. After Stiles gave his okay, the sheriff opened the door. Danny resisted the urge to hide the alcohol in his hands. It would have been futile anyway.

“Stiles? Mind explaining what I’m seeing here?” He sounded more amused than angry, but just in case Danny moved to sit up a little straighter against the head board.

“Uh, Dad. We’re just chilling, and drinking. Since our werewolf friends are out celebrating the full moon. This is Danny, Jackson’s boyfriend, I told you about him. We figured we’d do some human-bonding.”

 “That’s a nice idea. Hello Danny, nice to meet you,” he nodded in Danny’s direction.

Danny tried to send his most polite smile back. This conversation was definitely a little weird from so many angles, but he guessed he should just go along. “Hello sheriff Stilinski. It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“Right, I’ll leave you guys to it. Don’t drink too much. Behave kids.”

He closed the door behind him and left them alone. “For being the sheriff your dad is pretty chill about everything,” he told Stiles.

“Yeah, at this point he is. He wasn’t always, believe me.” The stern expression on Stiles’ face reminded Danny of Lydia’s words.

“Can I ask another more serious question.”

Stiles and Allison nodded, “Sure, ask ahead.”

“How do you live with the knowledge that your parents are always in danger? They didn’t always know, did they?”

Allison turned towards Stiles, “Your question. My parents were always involved in it, long before I even knew about it.”

The way Allison said it made Danny wonder about that story, too, but it seemed a little too personal. And it wasn’t really relevant towards his own life at the moment, so h pushed his curiosity aside for a while and focused on Stiles.

“It sucked in the beginning. My dad had no idea what was going on, but since he’s the sheriff he had to investigate. I saw him becoming more and more desperate at some points and there was nothing I could do. I thought not telling him would keep him safe. It was an accident when he figured it out, the same as it was with Melissa. I know that it makes them more of a target, but to be completely honest? Having a nurse and the sheriff know about all of this is a huge help. Still, I didn’t want him to know, but what’s done is done. We had to deal with it. They both know about the basics of protecting themselves and Deaton helped us set up protection charms. Not just for them, but for all our families actually. Apart from that, we try to warn everyone ahead if there’s a new threat, but that’s all we can do. The danger is still there.” Stiles shrugged like it was no big deal, but the way his whole body had tensed up while he had been speaking told a different story.

“Are you worried about your family, Danny? If so, just tell us and we’ll see what we can do about protecting them, too,” Allison chimed in, her voice careful and gentle.

“It’s not just that, I feel kinda torn. I want to be there for Jackson, and also by extension for all of you, if you want me to be. It’s not like I don’t care about you guys. It’s just that by doing so I put them in danger, whether I want to or not. It feels like I’m betraying them, in a way.”

“Oh Danny,” Allison sighed, moving until she was facing him directly, “I can’t say that I know exactly how you  feel, but I know that Jackson or Lydia or Boyd were faced with exactly the same difficulties. Just that in Boyd and Jackson’s cases they were supernatural creatures before they really thought about it and Lydia was involved whether or not she choose to take the bite. You…could back out, go back to your normal life, if you wanted it so badly. But I think if you wanted that you wouldn’t be here right now, right?”

“Exactly. I want this. I can’t just pretend that I don’t know these things exist. I want to help however I can. It just feels like I’m betraying them, because their lives will always be in danger somehow.”

“Listen, Danny. You’re right about that, but honestly? This all sounds like we’re facing more dangers than we actually are. Things are calming down slowly, so it might never be an issue. And you said it yourself, you can’t just turn your back on everything. So while being careful is definitely justified and your feelings make absolute sense, I think you already made your decision,” Stiles said seriously.

“Yeah, you’re right. I guess I just needed to talk about it for a second. It just sucks.”

“Tell me about it. You know what helps? Alcohol, so here, drink,” Stiles told him, while passing along the bottle of Tequila.

Danny winced a little at the taste. He’d never get used to it, but he already felt pleasantly buzzed so that helped. “So,” he started, “What do you two usually do during full moons?”

“We wait at the house while the wolves are on a run, we prepare food, we have sex, we fall asleep waiting for them to come back. We let ourselves be woken up for awesome, crazy full moon sex. Was that too much information?” Stiles looked confused. Danny had to stop himself from laughing out loud at his expression. The alcohol was definitely affecting him.

“It’s okay. I figured it would be something like that. Sooo…are we drunk enough to talk about sex or what?” Danny definitely was, he could tell from the fact that he had just asked that question, alone.

He looked at Allison, who was sprawled out over the whole bed, with her head pillowed on Stiles’ chest and at Stiles, who was petting her hair. Both of their cheeks were flushed and they were spotting matching grins.

“Definitely, ask ahead. Or do you want me to not say anything?” Allison looked a little insecure. Danny found the fact that she was always so considerate about what he might not be comfortable with endearing.

“Absolutely not. I don’t mind, just leave out the details. So, crazy full moon sex you said?”

“Stiles was being overdramatic. It’s not that crazy. They can all control their shifts and they always go for a run to get rid of some of the energy. They might be a little more animalistic, yes, but not that much.”

“Hmmm, fair enough. So, this morning; how do I say this? Wait a second,” he took the bottle from Allison, drank, then tried again, “Jackson didn’t seem to mind getting…uhh, stuff all over me?”

“As in body fluids?” Stiles asked, seeming not at all embarrassed to talk about it. Danny nodded.

“Yeah, that’s normal. You know that their sense of smell is better than ours right? And that they are really territorial and possessive? He did it, because it makes you smell more like him and shows other wolves that you’re his. Well, technically. They do it to us and to each other, too, so it’s not really about showing that we belong to a single person and more about showing that you’re part of the pack,” Stiles explained.

“Disturbingly enough that actually makes a lot of sense. So, sharing clothes, touching each other, it’s all about scent?”

“It’s also about the contact. They are just tactile. It’s instinct. Cuddling or reassuring touches always help, usually,” Allison added. “Don’t be too surprised when they all start touching you. It’s their way of making sure everyone knows that you’re pack.”

“I’m pack?” Danny asked. He was genuinely surprised. He had figured that being part of the pack would also mean being part of their relationship, somehow.

“Of course you are. If you’re with Jackson, that means you’re also with us. Even if you’re not with us, with us. You know?” Stiles looked at him like it was the most obvious concept in the world.

Danny thought back on his interactions with the pack. Now that he knew what to look for he realised that Scott and Isaac had wrapped their arms around him a lot these last few days. Lydia had taken his hand more often than not when they went somewhere. Derek, Erica and Boyd had been a little more hesitant, but he could recall them touching him at some point, too. Even if it were only small touches.

“Huh. I guess you’re actually right about that,” he told them.

“Do you mind it?” Allison asked. Danny couldn’t help finding her ongoing concern adorable. Maybe he should stop drinking.

He focused on the question instead. “No, I don’t think so. It’s…nice? To know that I have a place with you, somewhere.”

“Sure you do, Danny-boy. We’re really glad that things worked out for you and Jackson. Even if the circumstances weren’t the best.”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed. He didn’t feel like talking about the hunters again. They stayed silent after that. At this point Stiles had joined Allison and was also stretched out over the whole bed. He was cute when he was drunk, Danny had to admit that.

And he really needed to stop drinking right now.

“So sex?” Stiles asked and Danny nearly fell of the bed in shock.

“What?” he asked startled. Allison was giggling.

“Yeah, you and Jackson did it?”

“Oh,” Danny visibly relaxed, for a second he thought…yeah, he wasn’t going there. Instead he focused on the question.

“We did something. But we didn’t go all the way or anything…”

“Care to elaborate that?” Stiles asked. Allison kicked him with force. “Stiles! You can’t just ask that. Sorry Danny, he’s awfully noisy and being drunk doesn’t help with that at all. What you and Jackson do is as private as you want it to be.”

“Ouch Allison. That hurt,” Stiles complained, but Allison ignored him. Instead she was focused on Danny.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind him asking. I just won’t answer.”

“Fair enough. So, any more questions? Sex with werewolves can be strange. Sometimes.”

Danny didn’t have to think about that one for too long. “You could definitely tell me more about that to be honest. It’s always good to be prepared right?”

“Allison? You or me?” Stiles asked her. Allison waved him off and took another shot of Tequila instead.

“Me then. Well, for one they can smell it if you’re aroused. And they totally get off on it. It’s unfair really. Like they have this whole new dimension to sex that we can’t have. They also like to mark their partners. Bite marks, hickeys, claw marks. The whole deal. Not with fangs and claws, though. They are actually always super careful if they have sex with humans. Can’t complain too much about that. Lydia and Erica leave pretty good claw marks with just their nails. They can all control themselves by now. Usually. If emotions run high you need to be a little more careful. But they know that themselves. They are a lot rougher with each other, though. What else? Werewolf stamina is a thing. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. But with enough practice you learn to match up to that. Also, all of this goes for everyone but Lydia. She’s above all these petty instincts she says. Enough information?”

“Too much to be honest. But I appreciate it, I guess.” Sitting against the headboard was becoming more and more uncomfortable, so Danny decided to take Allison and Stiles’ example and moved until he was sprawled out on the bed, too. Next to Stiles, Allison on his other side.

“I have another question.”

“Shoot.”

“Do either of you sometimes think about letting Derek turn you, too? I mean, it does seem to have certain advantages.”

“Nah, man,” Stiles moved his head so that he was facing Danny. From this close his eyes were fascinating. What even was that colour?

“It would be cool, but I like my humanity. And I would be terrible at all the werewolf stuff. I’m fine like this.”

“Me too. I come from a family of werewolf hunters, my dad wouldn’t appreciate it. And I can take care of myself without the extra strength. We have an agreement, that if there would be no other way to save our lives, it would be okay, but apart from that there’s no way that’s happening. Why? Are you interested?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so? I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything, so not anytime soon.”

“Don’t pressure yourself. You’ll figure it out.”

“Do we still have Tequila?” Danny asked. Allison lifted her head, looked at the empty bottle in her hand, shook her head and let herself fall back onto the bed.

“What a shame. I think we had enough anyway,” Stiles proclaimed.

“Yeah…,” Danny agreed. They stayed silent after that. It only took a few minutes before Danny felt himself falling asleep. “I should head home. It’s getting late.”

Stiles and Allison only looked at him questioningly. “You’re staying. Obviously. You can’t drive anyway. We should get under the covers though. Allison. Move.”

“If I have to. Let’s sleep.” Danny couldn’t find the strength to argue with them. He was comfortable and he really didn’t want to go home, if he could sleep right now.

There was a lot of shuffling around after that. In the end Danny was lying on his back, Stiles beside him, with Allison using his chest as a pillow. They lay there in silence, all three of them lost in their own thoughts.

“I have another question,” Danny told them sleepily.

“Ask. Before we fall asleep.”

“Are you worried that they might not be okay tonight? With Lisa there?”

“Nah, all of them are individually stronger then her. Together it should be no problem at all. If there was a problem they would have called by now. They’re fine.”

“Alright. That’s good to hear.”

“Don’t worry. Good night, Danny,” Allison murmured. She seemed to be half asleep already.

It only took Danny a few minutes to fall into a peaceful slumber himself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. Long wait, I apologize. Life is stressful. I hope the length of this chapter makes up for it a little.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning Danny was woken up by the bright flash and someone jumping on the bed seconds later.

A pitiful groan came from Stiles’ direction, while Allison calmly said, “Whoever just jumped on me should better be prepared for serious trouble, if they don’t get up right now.”

“As you wish,” Scott’s voice answered hers. Danny could hear someone moving around on the sheets until Allison let out a content sigh. When Danny reluctantly opened his eyes and took a look around he saw that Scott was spooning Allison, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist, while Stiles was lying in front of her. Scott had placed his hand above Stiles’.

“Missed you last night,” he murmured before closing his eyes.

When Danny looked towards the door Lydia and Jackson were standing there. Both wearing matching expressions of fondness. Jackson moved towards the bed when he caught Danny’s eye.

“Good morning. I hope you had a nice evening yesterday?” he asked before he slipped into the bed beside Danny and gave him a quick, but sweet kiss.

“Yeah, we had our fun. Did everything work out with Lisa?”

“She didn’t make any trouble. Everything went fine. She was more in control than she thought. Next full moon you can be there. If you want to, that is. “

“Yeah, I think I would like that. If you want me there.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why shouldn’t we? So, did these two tell you anything too embarrassing? I was a little worried. Especially if Tequila was involved,” Jackson’s amused expression made it clear that his words weren’t too serious.

“I think that will stay between the three of us. It was interesting though. That much I can tell you.”

“I guess I need to trust them then. You want to sleep a little more? The full moon is always exhausting.”

“Well, I’m not too fond of the thought of getting up right now so, I guess I could sleep.”

“Perfect. Then let’s do that. Lydia are you joining us?” When he spoke the last words he turned his head towards Lydia, who was watching them all.

“There are things that sound worse than sleeping right now. Scoot over. I’m not getting close to Allison and Stiles when they are hung-over.”

At Lydia’s words Jackson moved until he was chest to chest with Danny. Lydia curled herself around Jackson’s back.

Within minutes everyone in the room was back to being fast asleep.

*

The day didn’t get much more interesting. The wolves all seemed to be exhausted from the full moon, while Allison, Stiles and Danny were battling their hangover. After waking up, they headed over to the Hale house, where they had breakfast at one in the afternoon with the rest of the pack and Lisa, who seemed more relaxed now that she das the previous night behind her.

Lydia and Stiles started working on tracking Lisa’s pack. Derek, Allison and Erica disappeared to do things Danny didn’t need to know too much about. Danny and Jackson spent most of the day with Scott, Boyd and Isaac playing video games.

It was relaxing and Danny felt comfortable around the pack.

Him and Jackson spent their evening at Danny’s place, watching movies and enjoying their time together. They decided that their ‘test-phase’ was definitely over. Danny was sure that this was what he wanted, or at least as sure as he could be at this point. He knew that Jackson was a part of his life, would always be if he was lucky.

He liked the pack, enjoyed their company and liked the idea of getting to know them all better. And he couldn’t stand the thought of hearing about one of them getting hurt and knowing that he hadn’t been around to at least try to make a difference.

In the following weeks he started training with Allison and Stiles, who taught him everything that might be helpful when it came to fighting supernatural creatures and dating a werewolf.

He had sex with Jackson for the first time three days later. They really tried to not rush things, but in the end, if you’ve known each other since kindergarten, it might be argued that it wasn’t that rushed. Jackson decided that he wanted Danny to top, because for some reason not really comprehendible to Danny he was scared that he might hurt him otherwise. They switched two days later. Both times it wasn’t perfect exactly, but all Danny had wanted.

Sometimes he just watched Jackson sleep in his bed or when he was joking around with the other pack members and he really couldn’t imagine going back to his old life. It was freeing, in a way, to finally know about what was going on.

Of course he still had to deal with nightmares and on more than one occasion he had been worried sick after hearing another particularly violent or terrifying story, but it was better than being kept in the dark.

Danny was sure that with Jackson at his side, and the pack having their back, everything would work out.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is awfully short, but there's a reason for that. When I started planning this story I had it all mapped out in my head. I wanted to divide it into two parts, basically. One that focuses on Danny figuring everything out and his relationship with Jackson; and the next part focused on Danny and the rest of the pack. 
> 
> The first part is officially finished here. I could have written more scenes, but I really wanted to wrap this up. I feel like this has been going on for way too long now. So the next chapter, will be longer again. This was just to make a more or less clean cut (I know I already dropped hints and had them bonding, but still...there will be more, way more)
> 
> As always, thanks to everyone who's reading, commenting, leaving kudos and being sweet. I appreciate it a lot.


	13. Chapter 13

As good as things were going with Jackson, Danny soon had to realize that the whole him- and- Jackson and the-pack- and–Jackson-thing didn’t really work at all. As so many things lately it took him a while to see it for what it was.

The first incident happened a few weeks after they had both decided that they were really doing this. Danny was spending the night at Jackson’s place since his parents were out of town on some business trip.

It had been a nice evening with take-out, movies and mind-blowing sex. Jackson had wanted to ride Danny and he had done so agonizingly slow and it had been torture but so worth every second of it.

Now they were just relaxing. Danny was lying on top of Jackson. They were trading lazy kisses every now and then. They were both close to falling asleep when the doorbell rang.

“Nooooo,” Jackson whined pathetically, “Let’s just ignore that and go to sleep.”

Danny huffed, “As tempting as that sounds you should see who it is. Might be important.”

He rolled off of Jackson and the other boy got up reluctantly and walked towards the door.

“Maybe you should put on pants, just a suggestion.”

Jackson glared at him, “Told you I’m too tired for this shit.” But he did put on shorts so Danny counted that as a win. He grinned up at the ceiling for a few seconds before he got up too to get dressed. He certainly hoped that they wouldn’t be required to do anything tonight but it was always good to be prepared.

A few minutes later he was glad that he did put on boxers when Isaac entered the room behind Jackson. They were holding hands.

“Uh, I know I promised we would have the night to ourselves but is it okay if Isaac stays?” Jackson asked.

Before Danny even had the chance to respond in any way Isaac had already started explaining himself, “I’m really sorry, I wouldn’t have come if I had known you were here. It’s just that Derek’s in a really bad mood and he only got angry when I tried to talk to him so I went for a run and I kinda just ended up here. But I can leave if you want me to.”

Danny wouldn’t have minded either way but now that he took a closer look at Isaac he realized that the boy looked wrecked and was clinging to Jackson’s hand like a lifeline. It made something in Danny’s chest ache. Of course he knew about Isaac’s father but sometimes it was a little hard to remember that he was a victim of abuse with the confident way he acted most times now. Right now Danny wanted nothing more than to offer comfort in any way possible.

“No, that’s not necessary. I really don’t mind. You stay here. But I could leave if you two want to be alone?”

Jackson looked at Isaac questioningly but the taller boy just shook his head.

“Great. Then you’re both staying,” Jackson proclaimed. “We were going to sleep anyway. Or we can  talk. Whatever you want.” Jackson’s voice was so full of care and affection that it startled Danny for a second. Apart from the first few days after Danny had been kidnapped they weren’t particularly gentle with each other because their relationship had always been full of bickering and avoiding talking too much about feelings since they didn’t really need it to read the other. Outside of extenuating circumstances that required some form of tenderness they were usually fine without it much rather relying on the fact that they knew the other cared anyway.

With Isaac, though, Jackson acted completely different. Maybe it was just because Isaac was distressed, Danny hadn’t seen them interacting enough to judge, but Jackson was being extremely sweet with him right now.

“Sleep is fine. I’m tired,” Isaac mumbled. He looked like he might break down any second. Danny really wanted to tug him into bed beside him and cuddle him until he looked a little less like a kicked puppy.

“Good. Why don’t you go sit down on the bed with Danny while I see if I can find any of your clothes in my closet?” Jackson gave Isaac a gently nudge towards the bed and Isaac sat down on the edge of the bed carefully. Danny wanted to say something, anything to make him relax but he had no idea what could possibly make this better. Surprisingly enough it was Isaac who spoke up again, “I really am sorry for disturbing you. It’s just that sometimes Derek gets caught in his own head and most of the time I can handle it by now but tonight he was just radiating anger and I was having a bad day anyway and it just…I needed to get out of there. I love him, I really do and I know he would never hurt me but sometimes I can’t get out of my own head, I guess. I understand if you’re angry.”

Danny was far from angry. He just wanted Isaac to be okay at the moment.

“I really, really don’t mind. I promise. You don’t have to explain yourself. It’s not like Jackson’s bed isn’t big enough for the three of us. Maybe together we can stop him from hogging all the pillows.”

Isaac ignored Jackson’s protest at Danny’s remark in order to send Danny a small smile. “We can try but recent experiments have shown that it takes at least three people to accomplish that. Even then it’s still hard work.”

“I’m glad you two are bonding over making fun of me,” Jackson commented before handing Isaac some clothes. “Here, this shirt is yours I think. Although Lydia wore it the last time she was over.”

Isaac took the things from Jackson and started to change. Danny pointedly studied Jackson’s ceiling some more. He tried to imagine Lydia, who wasn’t exactly tall in one of Isaac’s shirts. She probably looked adorable. And Danny really hoped that she couldn’t read his thoughts because he didn’t doubt for a second that she would destroy him in a painful und extremely detailed matter for even thinking stuff like that.

While Isaac changed Jackson had stretched out beside Danny on the bed, one of his arms thrown around Danny’s waist. He nuzzled Danny’s cheek for a while and shot him a questioning look. Danny shook his head and smiled. He didn’t mind having Isaac here if he didn’t want to be alone tonight.

Once Isaac had finished changing he joined them on the bed hesitantly. Jackson shot Danny an apologetic glance before he turned towards Isaac so that they were both lying on their sides, facing each other. Jackson wrapped one arm around Isaac and pulled him closer while Isaac hid his face in against Jackson’s chest.

“You sure you’re fine?” Jackson whispered and Danny saw Isaac nod in reassurance. “Just tired.”

“Danny?” Jackson asked. “Hmmm?”

“Come and keep me warm?”

It sounded casual enough but Danny heard the hesitance in Jackson’s voice. He was almost completely sure that Jackson wouldn’t hold it against him if he refused but as strange at the thought was, he didn’t mind too much. It wasn’t even like he would cuddle with Isaac directly.

So he shuffled around until he has pressed against Jackson’s back, one arm slung around his waist where Isaac’s arm already rested. They weren’t touching directly but Danny found he wouldn’t have minded either way.  He was warm, content and exhausted and drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

*

Danny slid into consciousness slowly the next morning. He was comfortable and someone on top of him was radiating so much warmth that he instinctually pressed himself closer.

It wasn’t until he opened his eyes that he realized that it was Isaac who was draped on top of Danny, his head resting on Danny’s chest.

Danny moved his head to the side to see that Jackson was fast asleep beside both of them. For a second Danny considered waking up either of them, but he was comfortable where he was and still way too sleepy, so he closed his eyes in again and let himself feel content.

When Danny was already close to dozing off to sleep again he felt Isaac stir on top of him. He opened his eyes to find Isaac’s blue eyes blinking down at him in confusion. He looked adorable with his bed hair and the sleepy expression on his face.

“Oh,” Isaac started, his voice shaking slightly, “I don’t remember falling asleep on top of you.”

“That’s because you didn’t,” Danny replied, his voice probably way fonder than it should be.

“Okay, should I get up or is this okay?”

“I don’t mind if you don’t mind. As long as you’re feeling better?”

“Yeah, I think so. Sorry again about interrupting.”

“It’s no problem. We weren’t doing anything important any way.”

Isaac grinned at him, “That’s not what my nose told me.”

Danny felt himself blush at the implication. He still couldn’t believe that the wolves could just tell when someone had sex. That really took some getting used to.

“Oh shut up,” he told Isaac, who’s only reaction was a huff before he hid his face against Danny’s neck, apparently in an attempt to go back to sleep. It felt nice, so Danny didn’t hesitate to put his hand through Isaac’s hair, petting the other boy lightly. Isaac let out a content sigh in response.

Part of Danny thought that he should be more worried about the situation, but he wasn’t doing anything forbidden. They were just cuddling and Jackson was right beside them. There was no reason to make it into something it wasn’t. Stiles and Allison had said that they were all tactile people.

Eventually Jackson did wake up. After the second it took him to take in the situation he looked at Danny and raised an eyebrow as if he was asking what was happening. Danny could only shrug in response.

“I wanted to ask why you’re cuddling with my boyfriend, but then I realized that I’m not even sure who I’m asking so I guess I won’t ask at all. Did you two sleep well?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Isaac responded and Danny nodded in agreement.

“But,” Isaac pushed himself up until he wasn’t on top of Danny anymore. Danny missed his warmth immediately. “I think I need to take a shower and leave you two to it.”

Before either of them could protest Isaac had already left the room.

Jackson sighed and moved closer towards Danny until they were lying face to face. Before Danny could start talking Jackson had leaned over to connect their lips in a sweet kiss that made Danny’s stomach flutter in the best way possible. He moved his hand until he was tracing light pattern against Jackson’s hipbone. It just felt right in every way possible.

When they pulled back, Jackson spoke again, “I’m sorry again about yesterday. I hope that was okay. And the cuddling was, too?”

“It wasn’t a problem at all. I’m a little bummed that we have to skip morning blow-jobs, but I think Isaac being okay is more important than that. And the cuddling was awesome, there’s no need to worry about that. Is he really okay, though?”

“I think so, yes. He didn’t have nightmares or anything, that’s always a good sign. Just be careful if it happens again. Sometimes he panics when he wakes up and someone’s lying on top of him or he can’t move properly. Be careful with that. I don’t want him to accidentally hurt you. He’d feel guilty for months and you would be in pain, that’s not something I want. Usually if he has nightmares he goes for a run. He just needs a little space to clear his head. But you’ll figure that out. He’s gotten better at sleeping in a bed with others anyway. It probably won’t become an issue, but it’s better if you know. Just in case.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. I’ll be careful,” Danny promised, his chest heavy with the sadness and anger he felt when he thought about the horrible things that had been done to Isaac. It spiked the urge to keep the curly haired wolf safe in any way possible. Even if that wasn’t technically his responsibility.

“Hey, don’t look like that, Danny. Isaac’s okay, he’s strong and a fighter. You don’t need to pity him. He’s fine now, it’s just that sometimes his past catches up with him. And the pack is there to help him when that happens.”

Danny let out a heavy sigh and gave Jackson a tight smile, “It really amazes me how you all know each other so well. Sometimes I think you’ve known each other all your lives.”

“We haven’t. We just learned a lot about each other during the last years. And we’re still learning. I’ve known you all my life and that’s different. It makes me hope that I will know you all my life. God, I don’t even deserve you, you’re so understanding about all this.”

“Hey, no, don’t say that. It’s not even a challenge to be honest. They are your pack and they are as much part of your life as I am. It’s all okay. And besides,” Danny grinned, “It’s not like I mind having another hot guy in our bed.”

As fate would have it that was the moment Isaac walked back into the bedroom, fully clothed, but with his hair still damp. He gave Danny a smile that could only be described as predatory, “Well, I will take that as a compliment.”

Danny felt himself blush, while Jackson laughed beside him and Isaac tried to hide his smirk. “Right,” he stuttered, “I’ll take the next shower. I’ll be right back.”

He saw Jackson reach out for Isaac to join him on the bed before he closed the door behind him. He hoped he wouldn’t walk in on the having sex when he got back.

He took his time showering, taking the time to collect his thoughts. Isaac was attractive he had no problem admitting that. It didn’t mean anything make. Sure, he _could_ see himself falling for him, if things were different and they got to know each other better, but why should he. He was happy with Jackson and while he wasn’t the only one for Jackson, Jackson was the only one he wanted to be in a relationship with. He just hoped that that wouldn’t change.

Once he was clean, dressed and his hair wasn’t wet anymore, he went back into the bedroom. Jackson and Isaac weren’t having sex. Instead they were rolling around the bed playfully, laughing when they managed to shove the other. They didn’t seem to have noticed Danny so he leaned against the doorway and just watched them.

Eventually Isaac managed to wriggle himself on top of Jackson, giving him a triumphant smirk, before they both leaned forward and their lips met in a passionate kiss.  Danny took that as his cue to make them acknowledge his presence, so he cleared his throat. The way they jumped apart was hilarious.

“Right,” Isaac chocked out, “I wanted to leave anyway.”

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. You can help me make breakfast while Jackson takes a shower. If you don’t have anywhere else to be,” Danny hurried to explain. He didn’t want Isaac to feel like he was intruding.

Isaac looked unsure for a second, but when Jackson encouraged him to stay, too he agreed.

“Great. You two be nice little boyfriends and make me pancakes, while I take a shower,” Jackson exclaimed, before he petted Isaac’s hair, slapped Danny’s butt and disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

For a moment Isaac and Danny only stared at each other, before Isaac said, “What an asshole. What are we? His housewives?” and Danny joined in on the complaints.

They did make pancakes together though, but only because they wanted them, not because Jackson told them to. They agreed on that. It was nice. Isaac was singing along to the radio while Danny was cooking. They talked about everything and nothing and Danny soon realized that he really enjoyed Isaac’s company. The boy was smart, had a good sense of humor and wasn’t scared of hurting Danny’s feelings by being sarcastic.

Jackson came downstairs when Danny and Isaac were standing side by side cooking together and when Danny looked up he found that he was watching the two of them with a curious expression on his face. Danny didn’t dwell on it too long, not sure if he wanted to know what Jackson had thought about.

They sat down to eat. The mood was relaxed, all three of them were bickering and laughing along with each other. Danny was glad that it didn’t feel weird to have breakfast with his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s boyfriend. He didn’t want things to turn complicated.

“So,” Danny eventually asked, “What are the plans for the day?”

“I thought we could head over to the house?” Jackson proposed, “I need to work on a project with Allison and I think Stiles said something about teaching you something about how to use protective runes. Would that be okay for you, two?”

Both Isaac and Danny agreed, so after they had cleaned up the kitchen and gathered their stuff they drove over to the Hale house. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. I hope you had as much fun reading it, as I had writing it. Whoever guesses which one of the boys Danny will kiss first get's something, I don't know what yet, but...something. 
> 
> There's a reason why I posted this chapter this quickly. I won't be home from tomorrow until the next Saturday. I will have my laptop with me, but I'm not sure if I'll have WiFi so I can't promise that there will be updates during that time. I'll do my best. As always, I love you all.


	14. Note from me

Guys, I am so, so sorry for the delay. This story is on hiatus for now. The reason for that is that during the last few months I prepared for my voluntary year in Indonesia, which I will start tonight. I honestly thought I would have had time to write, but sadly that didn't happen. I'm pretty sure that I will have an internet connection AND my laptop with me, and probably a lot of time where I will need to write in order to keep myself sane, but it might take me a little while to settle in. This story isn't abandoned. I love it and I have so many more plans for the pack, don't worry, they will all be written. Other than that I just want to say that I'm grateful for everyone who's still with me on this. I hope you all have an awesome year as well. We'll hear from each other, I promise.


	15. Chapter 15

When they arrived there Allison’s car was already parked in front of the house. 

“You really do spend all of your free time here, don’t you?” Danny asked amused.   
“Not all of our time,” Jackson argued, but he didn’t sound too convinced himself. “Sometimes we sleep at each other’s houses or go on dates. And we go to school.”  
Isaac only smiled to show his agreement. Danny rolled his eyes, “You’re terrible dependent on each other. It’s nauseating.”

“It’s not, you think we’re all great,” Jackson replied self secure.   
“I’m not sure about it yet. We’ll see.” 

“Oh, I bet we can work on that,” Isaac said while he wrapped an arm around Danny’s shoulder and dragged him smoothly into the house. Derek came down the stairs seconds later, looking tired and worried. 

He kissed Jackson on the cheek to say hello and nodded in Danny’s direction, but his attention was focused on Isaac, who had tensed for a second beside Danny, before he moved towards Derek, took his hand and dragged him upstairs. 

Apparently Danny looked worried because Jackson leaned against him, his arm wrapped around Danny’s waist , and told him in a quiet voice, “Stop looking so unhappy. They are fine, they just need some alone time. Isaac was okay this morning, so they’ll be okay, too. Now, come on. Allison and Scott are in the kitchen, someone should check that they haven’t set something on fire.”

“Hey, I heard that,” Scott called out from the kitchen, “Allison and I are totally rocking this.”

The picture they were confronted with when they entered the kitchen was hilarious. It seemed like Allison and Scott were baking, given the fact that both of their clothes and hair were covered in flour. Allison was wearing an apron that looked huge around her small frame.

“What exactly is it that you’re rocking here? You look ridiculous.” Jackson questioned. He looked at them like he was doubting their sanity, but he still reached out for Scott to kiss him and to ruffle his hair affectionately. He frowned at his hand when it was also covered in flour. 

“We’re baking, Stiles’ birthday is in two weeks and we thought we should try out this new recipe. Mostly we were just bored and Derek only rolled his eyes at us when we arrived here, so we thought, why not now?”

“You’re unbelievable, just buy him some expensive cake with batman on it and he’ll be happy.”

“You’re always such a romantic, Jackson, it sure makes a girl’s heart beat faster,” Allison replied sweetly. 

“Oh, I’ll show you how I can make your heart beat faster, no romance needed,” Jackson said, his eyebrow arched in challenge, before he closed in on Allison and lifted her on the kitchen counter in one swift move, stepped between her legs and started kissing her passionately. 

For a second Danny was too startled to look away, but when Jackson started biting at Allison’s neck, while his hand disappeared under her shirt, Danny quickly averted his eyes. Scott’s eyes were still on them and he looked a few seconds away from joining them. Danny really hoped that wouldn’t happen, since he had no idea what he should do then. He was fine with Jackson sleeping with other people. That didn’t mean that he wanted to watch him doing so. 

It seemed like Scott caught on to his dilemma though, because he cleared his throat loudly, before saying, “Well, not that I don’t enjoy this little show, but I think Danny here would prefer not having to watch this.”

That got Jackson and Allison to stop their make-out session. Jackson stepped back from Allison immediately, casting Danny an apologetic glance. 

“Right,” Allison said, still flustered and obviously turned on, “I need to take a shower anyway, get all that flour out of my hair.” She left the room quickly, while Jackson looked after her, clearly a little frustrated. 

Danny sighed, “Go after her, Jackson. I don’t mind. I really don’t need to see it, but I don’t mind.”  
“What? No, I don’t want to leave you alone. I’m fine,” Jackson denied. Danny only gave him a shove towards the doorway, “Go! Before I make you. I’ll help Scott clean up the kitchen.”

Jackson gave him another doubtful look, but when Danny didn’t say anything, he hurried to catch up on Allison. 

Scott laughed beside him, “That was great. You really do know how to handle him. I’m really impressed that you’re so chill about this whole thing.”

“I try my best. It’s no big deal,” Danny shrugged it off. “Now come on, if we’re already here we can clean up the mess you made here.”  
“You don’t have to do that,” Scott argued, but Danny only shook his head and started to wash the dishes, while Scott put everything else away. 

“I really meant what I said, though. I always knew that you were an awesome guy, but the way you handle this is something very few people could do.”

“If given the right motivation they could, I’m sure of that,” Danny brushed the compliment off, but Scott’s admiration did make him feel a little proud. 

“I still think it’s really cool, I’m glad you know now. Even if it’s a lot to take in,” Scott continued, a small smile on his lips, while he walked around the kitchen and put away everything Danny cleaned. 

“Yeah, well…,” Danny wasn’t sure what more to say. He felt like he was repeating himself to often lately, anyway. They both stayed silent for a few minutes, until Scott gave him another slightly concerned look. 

“Isaac stayed the night with the two of you?” he asked. 

“Yes, I don’t think him and Derek had a fight exactly, but he needed to get out of the house. I didn’t mind,” Danny just shrugged it off, it hadn’t been a big deal for him, “To be honest, I actually enjoyed it. Isaac’s cool.”

“He seemed okay this morning?” 

“I guess he was, we made breakfast together. We had fun,” Danny replied, while he finished cleaning the dishes and dried off his hands. He leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Scott move around the kitchen, for the lack of anything better to do.   
“Good, I’m glad if everything’s alright. Like I said, Derek was insufferable this morning,” Scott said, but he sounded cheerful. 

“You sure the two of them are okay?”

“Pretty sure. They always are, but most of us have our own issues to deal with and sometimes someone just needs some space to cool off. That’s not fighting exactly,” Scott explained. “Now come on, let’s do something fun, while we wait for everyone else to show up. You’re cool with Call of Duty?” 

“If you think you can beat me, you’re welcome to try.”

“I’m up for that challenge, come on, I wanted to spend some time with you anyway,” Scott admitted. 

The next few hours were mostly spend with both of them shouting at the TV and each other. At some point Allison and Jackson had joined them again, both freshly showered. Jackson had looked a little worried when they first came downstairs, but Danny had only smiled at him before waving him off again. He couldn’t let Scott win. Jackson and Allison started working on their project for school once they realized that Scott and Danny were busy on their own. 

Around lunch time, Danny and Scott had been playing for nearly three hours by now and Jackson and Allison were focused on their work, Scott looked down at his cell phone, paused the game and told Danny, “Stiles texted me. He’s going out for lunch with his Dad and he thinks that Lydia, Boyd and Erica might not show up anytime soon, either. Personally I’m starving, too. Wanna go out to grab something to eat? Stiles promised that he’ll come to the house later, to teach you some stuff, but it might take a while. Are you hungry?”  
Now that Danny thought about is, he was kinda hungry. Lunch sounded like a good idea. 

“Sure, why not? What about Jackson and Allison?”

“We’re trying to finish this right now, bring us back something to eat okay? And for Isaac and Derek, too.” Jackson’s voice came from the next room. Danny thought that it would take him a while to get used to people hearing him when he wasn’t talking to them directly, but it did make things easier. 

“That’s settled then. Come on Danny. Anything specific that you crave right now?” Scott asked. 

“Not really, I’m taking whatever you want.” 

“Ah, I’m not sure yet either. We’ll just see what we can get once we’re in town. And,” Scott made a dramatic pause, “Since both of us don’t have our own cars here, I’m pretty sure Derek will let us borrow the Camaro. You’re up for that?”  
“Uhh, yeah, sure. If Derek doesn’t mind, sounds like fun.” It really did. Danny had already driven Jackson’s Porsche a few times, but fast   
cars were always fun to drive. 

“Perfect, let’s go,” Scott announced before he took the keys and left the house. 

The drive into town was way more fun than Danny had imagined. Scott was driving, but he parked at a clearance in the woods and offered Danny to drive around a little. At first Danny had been a little hesitant, not wanting to damage Derek’s car, but Scott assured him, that it wasn’t hard to drive. Just a lot faster. 

And he had been absolutely right. It wasn’t a new feeling, but usually Jackson had been at his side, who had always been a little too careful. Whether he was worried about the car or about Danny, he still hadn’t figured out completely. 

Scott was different. He seemed confident enough to let Danny test out the speed and drive a few turns with only offering advice now and then. And if Danny’s heart did beat a little faster, when Scott took his hand to show him a handle Danny couldn’t find and gave him a big, warm smile, Danny brushed it off as the thrill of driving. Scott only continued smiling beside him. 

Eventually though they both had to realize that their hunger was getting worse. They decided on burgers, switched seats again, although Scott had offered to let Danny continue to drive, but he passed, and they drove towards town.

Lunch was nice, too. They sat down at a booth and ordered their food. 

“So hey, Danny. Next time you come around bring your Lacrosse stuff. We play sometimes. There’s enough space around the house and we could need a good goalie. Erica always runs out of it and tackles everyone who comes towards her to the ground. Boyd is better at it but he prefers running. So yeah, if you’re up for it, we’d like to have you around.”

“I’d love to. Lacrosse without Coach shouting insane things is probably a great experience.”

Scott laughed and Danny had to grin too. 

They continued talking. About Lacrosse at first, and then about other topics, too. About the werewolf things and how Scott had experienced them, about the relationships within the pack and everything else. Scott talked a little about his father and Danny found that opening up to Scott about how the whole kidnapping and the aftermath had affected him was pretty easy. Scott listened and understood, always tried to be gentle and had a very positive attitude about everything, without belittling what he went through. It felt refreshing. 

Jackson, even if he tried, always had trouble opening up and talking about feelings so Scott’s open way of communicating and comforting was more than welcome. 

Danny didn’t even realize how long they had spent talking until his phone rang in his pocket. 

“It’s Jackson, “he told Scott before answering,” Hey, what’s up?”

“Danny? Are you and Scott alright? We’re starting to worry.” Jackson sounded freaked out which made Danny frown in confusion. 

“Sure, why shouldn’t we be?”

“Because you’ve been gone for four hours? You only wanted to go out to get food.”

“What? Shit sorry. We kinda forgot the time, we were just talking. We’ll be back soon, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s not a problem. Just call next time. And bring food, we’re starving here.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. Really. See you soon, bye.”

Without saying anything else Jackson had hung up. Danny stared at his phone in confusion for a few seconds. 

“Huh,” Scott muttered, “I really didn’t realize that we we’re gone that long.”

“Me neither. Jackson sounded pissed.”

“I don’t think he is. He was just worried and tried to hide it. But we really should bring them something to eat, soon. Hungry werewolves are no fun, believe me I’m one myself.”

They ordered burgers, fries and milkshakes for everyone currently at the house and a little extra just in case someone else had shown up while they had been gone. 

Scott insisted on paying for Danny. “I’m paying for the rest of them, too. One more really doesn’t make a difference. It’s easier this way anyway.”

Danny let him, but also insisted on paying the next time they went out. He ignored how much like a date this suddenly felt.   
Sadly, the waitress didn’t let him do so. “I’m really not trying to be nosy and it seems like you to only just started dating, but you two look really good together and I think you’re a really cute couple.”

Before Danny could protest, Scott had already wrapped his arm around Danny’s shoulder and replied, “That’s really nice of you. Thank you.”

He gave her one last smile before he took the bag with the food and dragged Danny out of the diner. 

Once outside Scott started laughing loudly. Danny couldn’t help but grin along. 

“Well, I guess we left an impression. We should come here again with the rest of the pack. She’ll be confused forever.”

“Probably, yeah. But I guess that’s confusing to everyone.”

They both got in the car, but the topic had caught Danny’s attention. 

“How do you handle it? I mean, do you go out in public with the whole pack?”

“Sometimes, but not often. Usually we go out in smaller groups. At first we tried to be cautious, but then we realized that we don’t really care what anyone else thinks and that was that. I think the others are a little nervous that their parents will hear something, especially Allison, but I guess it’s not enough to stop us from being affectionate with each other. Like, I see that Isaac’s upset or that something’s bugging Erica, how am I supposed to not go over to them and comfort them? It’s just hard to pretend not being in love, when you are. So yeah, we try not being too obvious, but sometimes it doesn’t work that well.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. I’ve watched you all enough times in school to figure that out for myself.”

Scott smiles sheepishly, “We had the whole school talking about us for a while. Werewolf hearing, you know. And well, even without it Stiles and Allison still heard a few ridiculous comments. Some of them were hurtful, I won’t deny that, especially for the girls, I think, but in the end none of them were true, so why bother? But I’m really sorry about everyone who’s just really confused by our behavior.”  
“They’ll get over it. Come on, drive faster before anyone starves at the house.”

“You just want to test out the speed of the car again, don’t you?”

“You can’t proof that. Maybe I’m worried about what a pack of werewolves will do if they aren’t being fed in time.”

“Lies, all lies, Danny. Can’t fool me,” Scott commented, but he still put his foot down on the accelerator until they were going fast enough, that Danny felt the adrenalin pulsing through him. 

He grinned at Scott, who returned the gesture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah well, here I am. I'm sorry that it took so long, updates might still be not so frequent in the future. I'm thoroughly enjoying life in Indonesia. I'm so happy, I don't even know how to handle it sometimes. I'm also doing so many things, I barely have time to write home and to write the reports and to update my blog, so time for writing is limited at the moment. I hope you still enjoyed this chapter and I will try to update again soon. 
> 
> I love you all, thank you for sticking with this story.


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